The First Pitch:
• Longwood plays a three-game series at East Tennessee State as the team's final non-conference weekend series prior to diving into Big South play.
• The series has been shifted to a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday.
• Longwood is in the midst of a five-game week, its second of the season, after two midweek games before diving into Big South play next weekend.
• The Lancers take on an East Tennessee State side that was picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference preseason poll with co-Pitcher of the Year Michael Harpster, who is slated to start Saturday's game.
• The Buccaneers have won every weekend series they have played this season.
Previous Series
• Longwood split a pair of midweek games during the week.
• The Lancers dropped a third straight game with a 12-2 loss at Richmond before bouncing back with a solid win against UMass Lowell 9-2 on Wednesday.
• In the win,
Jake Chadwell was excellent on the mound for the Lancers. The freshman piled up seven strikeouts in five innings of work to earn his first collegiate win.
• Meanwhile, the offense was aggressive on the bases and controlled the strike zone to put up nine runs for the third time this season.
•
James Nelson and
Mac Tufts combined to drive in five of the team's nine runs.
Around The Bases:
• Longwood split two midweek games, with a win over UMass Lowell and a loss to in-state foe Richmond.
• In the win over UMass Lowell, the Lancers piled up a season-high six stolen bases.
• It was the sixth time this season the Lancers had stolen at least four bases.
• Longwood ranks sixth in the nation in stolen bases with 46, which also leads the Big South.
• The Lancers average 2.71 steals per game, good for 16th nationally and the top mark in the league.
• Tre Keels leads the way with 16 stolen bases, which is fourth in the nation and best in the Big South.
• Keels has had multiple steals in a game six times this season and is 16-16 on steal attempts.
• In the eigthh inning against UMass Lowell, Longwood scored without a base hit while stealing multiple bases on March 12.
• In that March 12th game, the Lancers had eight players in the starting lineup with a stolen base, and the ninth player stole one during the game.
• Longwood also ranks third in the Big South in doubles with 33.
•
James Nelson leads the team with seven, which ranks fourth in the league.
• In the win over UMass Lowell, Longwood drew a season-best 11 walks.
• It was the fifth time this season that the team has drawn at least seven walks.
• The Lancers are 3-2 when drawing at least seven walks.
• Three players on the team sport an on-base percentage above .400:
Mikey Urbaniak (.510),
Mac Tufts (.453) and
James Nelson (.426). Urbaniak has a team-best 11 walks this year.
SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Record vs. ETSU 1-2
Under Coach Noe 0-0
Current Streak L 2
First Meeting W 6-4 on 2/16/2014
Last Meeting L 5-4 (12 inn.) on 2/17/2014
• This is the second time the two teams have played a three-game series, with the first time occurring in 2014.
• The Lancers won the opening game of the series 6-4 behind eight strong innings from Aaron Myers and a save from Travis Burnette.
• ETSU then won a doubleheader the following day, tying the series with a 7-3 win. The Buccaneers then won the series in the final game in extra innings, plating a run in the 12th to win 5-4.
STATS COMPARISON
LWU ETSU
2025 Record 5-12 12-4
Conference 0-0 0-0
Batting Average .241 .330
Opp. Batting Average .334 .227
Hits 124 178
Hits allowed 194 114
Runs 96 139
Opposing runs 170 69
Runs per game 5.6 8.7
Doubles 33 26
Opposing doubles 36 23
Triples 4 4
Opposing triples 3 0
Home Runs 5 39
Opposing home runs 23 17
RBI 75 131
OBP .350 .422
SLG .357 .609
SB-ATT 46-53 26-31
Opposing SB-ATT 30-39 8-9
Walks drawn 71 73
Walks Allowed 84 57
Strikeouts 152 114
Opposing Strikeouts 119 135
Earned run average 8.55 3.64
Innings pitched 140 136
Earned runs allowed 133 55
FLD% .954 .972
Errors 28 16
#GoWood #HorsePower
