The First Pitch:
• Longwood takes on Gardner-Webb in a three-game Big South series on Friday night, which is the first conference series at home this season.
• The Lancers enter the weekend tied for first in the Big South following a weekend sweep of UNC Asheville to open conference play.
• During the weekend, it will be Bingo Night on Friday along with Athletic Trainer Appreciation Night, and Amish Traditions food truck will be there. On Saturday, The Fishin' Pig will have a food truck.
• Longwood earned a pair of Big South weekly awards this week, with
Wyatt Bunch named the Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week and
Mikey Urbaniak named the Big South Freshman of the Week.
• Longwood faces a Gardner-Webb side that has played Asheville and Presbyterian.
Previous Series
• Longwood fell 19-2 in seven innings on the road at VCU to wrap up a four-game road swing on Tuesday at The Diamond in Richmond.
• It was part of a road-heavy run for Longwood that saw the team play seven of eight on the road and 11 of 13 away from home.
• VCU put the game out of reach early with a big second inning, capitalizing on Lancer mistakes.
• The loss snapped a three-game winning streak, Longwood's.
• It also means that Longwood and VCU split the season series after the Lancers took the first midweek meeting between the two teams this year on February 18 in Farmville.
Around The Bases:
• Longwood hosts Gardner-Webb for three games after playing the past 12 matchups in Boiling Springs.
• The Lancers have not hosted Gardner-Webb since May of 2018 when the team played a three-game series May 19-20.
• Longwood is one of three teams that is undefeated in Big South play through two weeks of conference action, with High Point and Radford the other two teams both sitting at 3-0.
• In its opening series against UNC Asheville, the Lancers put up 40 runs in three games and scored at least nine runs in all three games.
• Longwood leads the Big South in both stolen bases with 66, a mark which is 10th nationally.
• Tre Keels has one third of the team's stolen bags, with 22. He is fifth nationally, and first in the Big South, in steals.
• The offense has also picked up as well, scoring seven or more runs four times in the last five games. The team, this season, has scored at least 10 runs five times and is 4-1 when reaching double digit runs.
• Longwood had at least 10 hits in all three games against Asheville, and the team swatted six home runs in the three game span and have hit a home run in four straight games.
•
James Nelson leads the team in batting average and RBI, with his .369 average ranking eighth in the Big South. His 28 RBI rank seventh in the Big South.
• Nelson has also hit 10 doubles, which leads the Big South and ranks 43rd nationally.
•
Jae'dan Carter and
Mikey Urbaniak both lead the Lancers, and rank third in the league, with 20 walks apiece.
SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Record vs. GWU 10-19
Under Coach Noe 0-0
Current Streak L 2
First Meeting L 10-9 3/29/2009
Last Meeting L 2-0 4/20/2024
• The Lancers lost the series a season ago at Gardner-Webb after falling in the final two games.
• The last series win for Longwood was in 2019 when the team took the first two games of a series, 9-7 and 3-2.
• Longwood swept the season series once, back in 2013, in the team's first season in the Big South.
• Prior to Longwood's win last year to open the series, GWU had won seven straight games, dating back to the series finale in 2019.
STATS COMPARISON
LWU GWU
2025 Record 8-17 11-15
Conference 3-0 1-5
Batting Average .247 ..288
Opp. Batting Average .331 .293
Hits 188 247
Hits allowed 289 256
Runs 154 215
Opposing runs 254 211
Runs per game 6.2 8.3
Doubles 45 36
Opposing doubles 50 50
Triples 6 5
Opposing triples 8 4
Home Runs 13 33
Opposing home runs 32 27
RBI 130 190
OBP .381 .410
SLG .374 .456
SB-ATT 66-78 52-67
Opposing SB-ATT 40-50 43-53
Walks drawn 120 135
Walks Allowed 127 153
Strikeouts 234 211
Opposing Strikeouts 161 242
Earned run average 8.66 7.53
Innings pitched 205.2 215
Earned runs allowed 198 180
FLD% .951 .967
Errors 43 30
#GoWood #HorsePower
