FARMVILLE, Va. – Steven Farkas was freaky good in Friday's series-opening win against UNC Asheville.
 
Farkas was cooking with gas all night long as he tied the program single-game strikeout record, fanning 14 in Longwood's 3-0 win Friday against UNC Asheville at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
"I felt pretty good tonight," Farkas said. "I've gotten close with 12 the other time, but tonight felt good. I think after the second or third inning I realized I was averaging two strikeouts per and I was thinking, 'Yeah, I want to keep doing this.' This is one special moment right here."
 
Farkas (2-6) was dominant throughout, striking out the side three times, including a four-strikeout second inning. Farkas picked up six strikeouts in his first 2.1 innings of work and continued to roll to lead Longwood (11-21, 4-9 Big South) to a big game one win against UNC Asheville (9-24, 5-8 Big South).
 
"We're at that point in the season where every conference game is important," Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said. "We have to stay locked in and find a way to win baseball games at this point."
 
With the victory and losses by Charleston Southern and Radford the Lancers move into a tie for eighth place in the Big South standings, one place behind UNC Asheville. As the top eight teams qualify for the Big South Tournament, the win was much needed for Longwood.
 
It was only fitting that in a clutch outing on Friday the 13th Longwood's number 13 was at his best. Farkas struck out 14 batters in 7.0 scoreless innings with three singles and three walks sprinkled throughout his career night.
 
"That was as big as it gets," Mau said. "We need that guy to get going, we needed to grab game one in the series, and he was outstanding tonight. He's got electric stuff and it's great that he showcased it tonight. He did a great job of commanding the fastball and they weren't picking it up very well. I'm really proud of the effort and the performance he gave us tonight."
 
The 14 punchouts tied the program record, done once before in each the Division I and Division II days. Steve Mozucha set the single-game strikeout record in 1995, mowing down 14 hitters against Gannon that season. 20 years later, in 2015, Aaron Myers tied the program record with 14 strikeouts against North Carolina A&T.
 
"It's a nice accomplishment for him and some great company to be in," Mau said. "Aaron Myers is a guy I had an opportunity to coach and I was pitch calling that game. Aaron was special and when Steven is going he's one of the best in the conference in my opinion."
 
Farkas, whose previous high with 12 strikeouts in 6.0 scoreless innings March 9 against Iona, entered the night eight shy of the Big South lead in strikeouts behind Winthrop's Zach Peek, who has not yet made his turn through the rotation this weekend. Farkas ended his night first in the Big South with 68 strikeouts on the season.
 
After Farkas took the Lancers through seven strong innings, Tommy Green went the next 1.2 scoreless before Michael Catlin picked up his team-leading third save to seal the deal.
 
"I thought Tommy Green did a pretty good job and Michael Catlin finished it for us," Mau said. "Overall I'm really proud of the effort tonight and it's going to take another team effort tomorrow in a long doubleheader day."
 
Catlin entered the game with bases loaded and two outs top nine and got a ground out to first to end the game, preserving Longwood's first shutout win of the season.
 
Farkas outdueled Greg Gasparro (1-5) who held Longwood to two runs, one earned, in 5.0 innings with five strikeouts, five walks issued and five hits allowed.
 
Farkas achieved a rare feat in the top of the second inning when the junior left-hander struck out four batters in the inning.
 
"That was pretty good," Farkas said. "With the last at-bat after getting the third strikeout I really had to focus in because if I don't the run scores and it was a close game tonight."
 
After allowing a lead-off single in the inning Farkas came back to strike out the next two hitters. With a runner at first and two outs Farkas hit the next man up. With a pair on and two down Farkas got a strikeout looking, but a passed ball allowed the hitter to reach. Farkas struck out the next hitter to complete the rare four-strikeout inning.
 
The downside to the high strikeout numbers was a rise in pitch count early on as Farkas crossed the 100 pitch threshold in the fifth inning, but continued to attack hitters and get good results.
 
"I knew I had to start hitters out with first-pitch strikes at that point," Farkas said. "As long as I did that I knew we'd get hitters out. I knew I had to command the fastball and I was able to get it in the zone. At that point I was also feeling pretty good and I was just letting loose. I just wanted to put it in the zone."
 
The second inning was one example of an inning where Farkas had to toss a few extra pitches. The ace had to throw seven pitches after the passed ball continued the second inning and threw an additional nine in the third after a hitter reached on an error with two outs, each time Farkas retired the next batter.
 
"We put Farkas in a tough position with a misplayed ball and the strikeout that got to the backstop and that just kept tacking on pitches early. I thought he did a good job bouncing back and having a couple of quicker innings, which allowed him to go deeper in the game and have the success he did."
 
The Lancers got Farkas all the necessary run support in the home half of the third thanks to solid situational hitting. Jawan McAllister started the frame with a bunt single up the first base side and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Eric Crain. After Sammy Miller walked both runners moved up on a failed pickoff attempt. With runners at second and third with one out, Antwaun Tucker brought in the first run on an RBI groundout to third. Justin Mitchell followed with an RBI single, upping Longwood's lead to 2-0.
 
"It all started with a really good bunt for hit with Jawan," Mau said. "We executed on the sacrifice and Tucker did a good job in scoring the run, plus Mitchell came up with the big two-strike at-bat. Those runs were big. There wasn't a lot of breathing room that entire game so to grab that lead early and let Steven settle in was pretty big for us."
 
Longwood scored again in the sixth inning thanks to small ball. After McAllister was hit by pitch to start the frame the junior outfielder stole second base. After Miller walked, with McAllister at third thanks to a wild pitch Tucker put down a perfect bunt single up the first base side, picking up his second RBI to make it a 3-0 lead.
 
The multi-RBI game was the fourth of the season for Tucker, good for second on the team behind Mitchell. Tucker has collected two hits in consecutive games and has seven RBI in the last seven games.
 
The series concludes Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 2 p.m. The first game of the doubleheader will air on ESPN3. Cody Boydstun (1-4, 5.57 ERA) is set to take the ball for the Lancers.
 
In the finale, approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one of Saturday's twin bill, Tyler Morgan (1-2, 7.80 ERA) will take the mound for the Lancers opposite of left-hander Jordan Carr (3-3, 5.48 ERA) for UNC Asheville.

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