First Pitch

•   Longwood earned a spot in the Big South playoffs for the first time since 2018 and closed the regular season with a winning record for the first time since 2016.
•   The Lancers earned the sixth seed behind a pitching staff that ranked third in the Big South in ERA and first in strikeouts.
•   Longwood's 11 conference wins mark the fourth time since joining the league in 2013 that the team has won 11 or more Big South games.
•   Longwood faces an opponent in USC Upstate that finished 13-11 in league play and won six straight and nine of its final 10 in the regular season to earn the third spot in the league standings.
•   The Lancers had five players earn All-Big South honors, announced on Tuesday. Jaxon Lloyd and JR Fordham both garnered First-Team All-Conference honors while Ben Pulliam and Brady Hoover were tapped for the All-Freshman Team. Tré Keels was the team's All-Academic selection.
•   It was the first time Longwood has had two players earn First-Team All-Conference honors in the same season since joining the Big South.

Last Series

•   Longwood won the series opener at No. 2 Winthrop on Thursday last week 8-2 before falling in back-to-back games 23-5 and 11-5.
•   In the 8-2 win, the Lancers rode sterling performances on the mound from Brady Hoover, Jackson Garland and JR Fordham to limit Winthrop to four base hits.
•   Garland faced one more than the minimum in 4.1 relief innings, and Fordham retired the side in order in the ninth.
•   Meanwhile, Jack McMullan had a career-best six RBI in the win to help Longwood clinch a spot in the Big South playoffs.
•   Winthrop bounced back with back-to-back big offensive games to pull away and take the series.
 
Around the Bases

•   Longwood has made four prior appearances in the Big South Tournament, and it has won a game three times in those four outings.
•   The Lancers qualified for the Big South Tournament this year for the first time since 2018, although the Big South took eight teams that season.
•   Longwood is fifth in the Big South in RPI at 134, and the Lancers are one of six teams in the top 150 nationally.
•   The Lancers have 11 road wins on teh season, tied with USC Upstate for second most in the league. Only High Point has more.
•   The Lancers are 5-7 against teams in the top 100 of RPI, with series wins against High Point and Binghamton in that mix.
•   Longwood has two wins against Quad 1 opponents, tied for the second-most in the league with USC Upstate.
•   Longwood leads the Big South in stolen bases on offense with 137 and strikeouts per nine innings (8.4) as well as strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.06) on the mound.
•   The Lancer pitchers rank third in the league in ERA at 5.32, which is 94th nationally.
•   The team's pitchers combined to walk 4.1 batters per nine innings, second-best in the Big South and 79th nationally.
•   The pitchers also have allowed the third-fewest hits per nine innings in the league at 9.52.
•   The two prior stats help Longwood rank third in the Big South in WHIP at 1.51.
•   The offense, meanwhile ranks second in the Big South in walks drawn at 276, a mark that ranks 46th nationally.

SERIES HISTORY