FARMVILLE, Va. – Speed has been a regular feature of Longwood baseball under head coach Ray Noe, and that paid dividends on Saturday afternoon against UNC Asheville.
 
The Lancers (21-14, 6-5 Big South) swiped seven bases, two shy of a season high, and added eight walks to pull away from UNC Asheville (15-20, 3-8 Big South). Longwood scored in six straight innings in a 9-2 win that clinched the series with one game to play.
 
The pitching duo of Brady Hoover and Wyatt Bunch, meanwhile, were also incredibly sharp on the mound to hold Asheville to five hits on the day.
 
SCORING:
               R             H            E
UNCA    2             5             3
LWU      9             6             1
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The Lancers struck first in the second inning when Jack McMullan singled home Tre Keels for a 1-0 lead, but Longwood was just getting started.
 
A Jon Howard sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the fourth, and Bentley Yeatts made it 3-0 in the fourth.
 
While an RBI groundout from Logan Lowe put Asheville on the board in the fifth, Longwood answered right back. A double steal from Jae'dan Carter and Brogan Jones put one run home, and an error plated another.
 
Another double steal in the sixth made it 6-1, and Yeatts poked home more runs in the seventh to extend the lead to 9-1.
 
As the offense kept pushing the pace for Longwood, Hoover and Bunch were mowing down batters left and right on the other side of things.
 
Hoover (3-3), a freshman, picked up the win behind a six-inning start where he faced one batter in the seventh. He gave up one run on three hits and two walks while striking out three and needed only 89 pitches in his outing.
 
Bunch came on and promptly retired six straight before Asheville plated a run in the ninth, but the senior righthander picked up the three-inning save. He surrendered two hits that led to one run while striking out three. It was his first save of the season.
 
Drew Turner (2-4) took the loss for Asheville. He gave up six runs, four earned, on four hits and six walks while striking out five.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"Maybe the most complete game we've had as a team all year," said Longwood Head Coach Ray Noe. "The pitching was absolutely fantastic, the defense played tough, and the offence committed to their plan from pitch one until the end."
 
"Turner is a really good arm, and we knew we were going to have to score in different ways today in order to beat him," Noe added. "We were super aggressive on the bases, and that led to a lot of our scoring opportunities."
 
"Nice to see the team trending in the right direction, and now it's time to lock in and focus on completing the job tomorrow," Noe said.
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• The seven steals tied for second-most in a game this season, and it was the sixth time Longwood has stolen at least five bases.
• Longwood is 6-0 when stealing five or more bases.
• Hoover pitched 6.0+ innings for the fourth time this season.
• The save was Bunch's first of the season and third of his career.

 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood goes for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN+.
 
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