BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The postseason has already started for Longwood baseball. Fortunately for the Lancers, they're already playing like it.
 
With Big South Tournament implications on the line Friday night against ninth-place Gardner-Webb, Longwood ace Aaron Myers delivered a dominant complete-game performance, Kyri Washington drove in four runs and homered for the fifth time in his past nine games and the eighth-place Lancers (20-27, 8-11 Big South) played error-free baseball to rout the Runnin' Bulldogs 8-1 in the series opener at John H. Moss Stadium.

The series holds significant postseason weight for both teams, as the win gives Longwood a two-game lead over Gardner-Webb (20-29, 6-16 Big South) for eighth place and the final spot  in the eight-team Big South Tournament field. Longwood has five conference games remaining, while Gardner-Webb has just two — games two and three of the head-to-head series this Saturday and Sunday.
 
"This is a big one for us," said Longwood head coach Ryan Mau of this weekend's series. "We know what we have ahead of us. We talked about it being a playoff atmosphere type of game, and the guys responded."
 
Toeing the rubber opposite Gardner-Webb rotation front-runner Erik Heiligenstadt, Myers (4-8) lived up to his Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year billing by coming within three outs of his second career shutout. He settled for a one-run complete game – his second start-to-finish effort of the year – after Gage Parham laced an RBI double in the ninth inning for Gardner-Webb's only run. That hit was one of only six on the night for the Runnin' Bulldogs, who moved just three runners past second base and struck out nine times against Longwood's dialed-in ace.
 
The nine-strikeout effort puts Myers at a conference-leading 103 punchouts on the season, passing Brian McCullough for second place on Longwood's single-season list and placing him within four of tying Steve Mozucha's school-record 107 strikeouts in 1995.
 
"Aaron was locked in from the first pitch," said Mau, who in his first season is looking to take Longwood back to the Big South Tournament for the second time. "We knew he had his stuff tonight and he was going to be tough to beat. Offensively we gave Aaron enough support to get this one, we were sound defensively behind him and we turned some great double plays. This was a great win, an important win, but we have to put this one behind us and do it again tomorrow."
 
Along with Myers' dominance and the team's error-free defense, Washington lent his lumber to Longwood's postseason push with his second straight four-RBI game. He capped his night with a two-run bomb in the top of the seventh that was his career-high 12th of the season and pushed him into a tie with Campbell's Cole Hallum for the Big South lead.
 
Washington and Delk's two-run blasts were two of 13 base hits on the night for the Lancers, who saw every starter record a hit. The one-through-nine effort included a 3-for-4 night from nine-hitter C.J. Roth, a pair of hits and a stolen base from leadoff man Colton Konvicka and RBI singles from Brandon Harvell and Travis Biddix.
 
"I thought we did an outstanding job pressuring the defense all night with the way we ran the bases and the way we played small ball," Mau said. "We had some very timely hits and some big hits from guys stepping up in the clutch. Brandon Harvell, Kyri Washington and Brandon Delk, all those guys came through in a big way when we needed it."
 
With an early lead and a clean-fielding defense behind him, Myers fired nearly 70 percent of his pitches for strikes and retired the side in order four times. He held Gardner-Webb's one through five hitters to a combined 1-for-16, struck out designated hitter J.D. Huggins four times and sat down nine-hitter Luke Kaesmeyer another three times on strikes.
 
By going the distance, Myers saved Longwood's entire bullpen for the crucial upcoming games two and three of the series. Saturday's game will feature Longwood right-hander Luke Simpson (3-2, 4.17 ERA) in his first weekend start of the year opposite the Big South's No. 2 strikeouts leader Matt Fraudin (4-4, 4.03 ERA).

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