ASHEVILLE, N.C. – If runners were on base, Longwood baseball's James Nelson and Mikey Urbaniak had one mission: drive them in. Friday night, they were seemingly unstoppable and combined to drive in 10 runs.
 
The rest of the offense followed their lead, with seven total players driving in a run while eight different players touched home plate.
 
The bountiful offense paved the way to a runaway win as Longwood (6-16, 1-0 Big South) rolled past UNC Asheville 17-8 at Greenwood Field.
 
Nelson, a graduate student, was a perfect 4-4 at the plate while adding three runs and three doubles. He had five RBI, a career high, and it was the seventh time this year he has driven in multiple runs in a game.
 
Urbaniak, a freshman, used one titanic swing with a three-run home run, his first collegiate home run, as he also had a career best five RBI.
 
The Lancer offense put up a season-best 17 runs thanks to a season-high 14 drawn walks to go with 13 base hits.
 
SCORE:
               R             H            E
LWU      17           13           1
UNCA    8             13           0
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The Lancer offense was relentless and scored in seven different innings. The team forced UNC Asheville (9-13, 2-2 Big South) to use seven pitchers, scored runs on six of them, and never trailed.
 
While Urbaniak and Nelson had some of the eye-popping numbers, seven different players had an RBI, and eight different players scored a run.
 
An RBI fielder's choice by Urbaniak put Longwood on the board in the first inning, and then the offense exploded in the second.
 
Bentley Yeatts and Tre Keels each poked home runs with singles, and then Nelson delivered the big blow. The Lancer rightfielder punched a double down the right field line with the bases loaded, plating all three runners for a 6-0 lead.
 
Asheville answered with a run, but Longwood right-hander Ried Dittner limited the damage.
 
That was the theme for Longwood's pitchers on the whole, with the offense in such a rhythm. Outside of a big fifth inning, Longwood's pitching staff managed the game and kept Asheville.
 
Meanwhile, the offense kept on banging runs home. Casey Gibbs and Mac Tufts picked up RBI in the fourth, and Urbaniak clobbered his first collegiate home run in the fifth. Urbaniak's three-run job pushed the lead to 11-2.
 
Asheville rallied in the home half of the frame to plate five runs and cut the Lancer lead to four, but Wyatt Bunch put the fire out.
 
The Lancers answered right away with a sac lineout from keels, and Nelson continued his rampage with an RBI single in the sixth.
 
Tufts cranked his first collegiate home run in the seventh for a solo shot, and Nelson doubled home a run in the eighth. Jae'dan Carter capped the scoring with an RBI single a few batters later.
 
Dittner (1-1) earned the win. Bunch came up big after coming on in relief and helping escape a tight spot in the fifth inning.earned the win after coming on in relief in the fifth inning.
 
Nic Melton (0-2) took the loss for Asheville. He gave up four runs, all earned, on four walks in 1.1 innings.

WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"It is always important to get the first win of the series, especially in conference and on the road," said Longwood Head Coach Ray Noe. "Ried gave us a great start, and the offense allowed the game to come to them. We did a great job of controlling the strike zone and impacting the baseball in the zones we were hunting."

UP NEXT:
 
Longwood takes on Asheville in the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.
 
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