FARMVILLE, Va. – Antwaun Tucker collected four RBI to lead the Lancers to a 15-12 game one win and Tyler Morgan struck out a career-high 13 batters for a complete game shutout in Longwood's 5-0 game two win to sweep the doubleheader and series from UNC Asheville.
 
Over the three games Longwood (13-21, 6-9 Big South) collected 38 combined strikeouts between its pitchers and collected its first two shutouts in its first series sweep of the season, taking out UNC Asheville (9-26, 5-10 Big South). With the three wins the Lancers have won four straight, the longest winning streak of the season for Longwood.
 
"It takes a full team effort and it takes a lot of focus, especially when playing a doubleheader in league like that," Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said. "To be able to get the job done and sweep the day was huge. I'm just proud of the guys."
 
In a day that featured both tons of offense and little offense between the two games, Longwood found a way to win in both fashions Saturday, racking up a season high in runs and hits in game one, while the Lancers earned their first complete game shutout of the year in game two with Morgan's gem.
 
Tucker was a man on a mission at the plate collecting six RBI between the two games, while Sammy Miller and Justin Mitchell held the team high with four hits between the two games.
 
With the series sweep the Lancers are in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference standings and are currently within the cut line to qualify for the Big South Tournament at the midway point in the conference season. The series victory was the first Big South series win for the Lancers this year.
 
Longwood returns to the field Tuesday to host a midweek game against James Madison. The game will air on the Big South Network. First pitch Tuesday is set for 6 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
Longwood 15, UNC Asheville 12
Early offense led the way for Longwood as the Lancers took down UNC Asheville, 15-12, in game one of a doubleheader Saturday.
 
Every Longwood starter picked up a hit as the Lancers churned out their season highs with 15 runs and 18 hits.
 
"I thought there were a couple of guys who had some big days for us," Mau said. "Sammy Miller, Antwaun Tucker, and the whole offense there was firing on all cylinders. That was awesome to see. Those guys were working hard and we needed to see a big offensive game because on the mound we weren't sharp in game one."
 
Tucker led the way with four RBI in a 2-for-6 game, picking up a double and a triple in the win. Miller had a team-high three hits in a 3-for-5 game, driving in a pair of runs and scoring a pair.
 
"I thought offensively we put some really great at-bats together," Mau said. "We knew it was going to be one of those games where it's never enough and you have to keep going. The guys stayed locked in. We needed to put runs up on the board and every single one of them was needed because it got a little scary there in the end."
 
In addition to the big games Miller and Tucker put together Mitchell was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, Nate Blakeney was 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored, Grant Keller was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a pair of runs scored, Ryan Shull was 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Jawan McAllister was 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
 
"I'm really proud of all those guys," Mau said. "Grant Keller had a heck of a day and it was all great to see."
 
All the offensive support made Cody Boydstun (2-4) a winner. Boydstun tossed 5.1 innings and struck out five, surrendering six runs on five hits to UNC Asheville.
 
UNC Asheville starter Nick Boyles (0-2) took the loss, giving up three runs on four hits in 1.0 inning of work.
 
The Lancers jumped on UNC Asheville in the bottom of the first. Miller singled back up the middle to start the inning and stole second base in the next at-bat. After moving to third on a ground out, Miller scored easily on a single back up the middle by Mitchell. The next batter, Blakeney, doubled to left-center to put runners at second and third for the Lancers. Jack Schnell kept the line moving with an RBI single to right and then Keller followed, executing a safety squeeze to up Longwood's lead to 3-0.
 
Longwood continued to swing it well in the bottom of inning number two. McAllister started the frame with a single to left and move to third on a pair of sacrifice bunts. Tucker brought in McAllister with an RBI double to left, upping the Lancer lead to 4-0.
 
UNC Asheville took advantage of a pair of walks to start the third inning to get right back in the game. Jake Madole and Greg Gasparro each walked to start the frame for the Bulldogs with no outs. With two outs and runners at second and third, Carmine Pagano singled back up the middle to bring in the first two UNC Asheville runs. Danny Wilson followed with an RBI double to bring the game to within a run and Brandon Lankford finished off the rally with an RBI single through the left side to tie the game at four.
 
Longwood took the lead back with a two-out rally in the home half of the third. Keller came up with the bases clear and two down and doubled down the left field line, setting up Shull who doubled to left on the first pitch in the next at-bat to make it 5-4 Lancers. McAllister kept the line moving with a walk and Mac McCafferty brought in another run on an RBI single to left. Miller followed up with an RBI single to left and up the lead to 7-4.
 
The Lancers scored again in the fourth, taking advantage of a pair of walks by UNC Asheville pitching. Blakeney walked with one out and Keller drew a two-out free pass. Shull drove in the run with an RBI single to right and made it an 8-4 Longwood lead.
 
UNC Asheville clawed back into the game in the top of the sixth inning. With one out Chris Troost walked and Tyler Serricchio was hit by pitch. Jake Madole brought them both in with an RBI double to cut the Lancer lead in half at 8-6.
 
The Lancers got the runs back and broke the game wide open in the home half of the sixth. Blakeney worked a one-out walk to give the Lancers their first base runner since Shull's RBI single. Pinch-hitting for Schnell, Eric Crain came through with an RBI triple to right. The next hitter, Keller, singled to bring in a second run in the inning and get the Lancers to double-digit runs and a 10-6 lead.
 
The Lancers continued to pour it on in the sixth with another two-out rally. McAllister reached on an infield single and McCafferty walked. Miller plated a run with an infield single and then Tucker broke it open with a bases-clearing triple to left-center, making it 14-6 Longwood. The Lancers scored again in the eighth on an RBI double by Blakeney.
 
UNC Asheville rallied for five in the ninth, but the Lancers were able to hold on to its huge lead. Eric Harp nailed the final out to pick up his first save of the season.
 
"Harp was huge," Mau said. "Our bullpen was shaky and I didn't expect to get to that point, but it was starting to slip away. For Eric to come in and absolutely put down the threat in a hurry was huge. We're going to need to figure out some more bullpen help, but I liked the way the starters were throwing the baseball."
 
Longwood 5, UNC Asheville 0
Morgan was money to lead the Lancers to the doubleheader and series sweep as the right-hander struck out a career-high 13 batters in Longwood's 5-0 sweep-clinching win.
 
"I just felt smooth, calm, and collected," Morgan said. "Everything was working and I was locating wherever I wanted to and just went from there."
 
Morgan (2-2) seemingly picked up where Steven Farkas left off Friday, putting together his best career outing. Morgan tossed a complete game shutout, holding UNC Asheville to three singles and two walks while striking out 13 batters, falling one shy of Farkas' program-tying effort Friday.
 
"I did think a little about Steven's outing from yesterday, but at the same time I was pitching for outs and I wasn't really focused on trying to match him," Morgan said. "This is nice and definitely something to build off of going into next weekend."
 
"I've always liked our starting rotation," Mau said. "I do think it's one of the better ones in the league because when they're on they're very tough to square up. That was awesome."
 
There was no need for a call to the bullpen as Morgan went the distance, recording the first complete game for the Lancers since Boydstun went 9.0 innings against Iona in a win in mid-March. With Morgan's 13-strikeout complete game and Farkas' 14-strikeout gem Friday the two starters combined for 16.0 shutout innings and 27 strikeouts with just five hits and five walks allowed.
 
"Those two starts were huge because our bullpen is still trying to figure itself out," Mau said. "After the first game of the doubleheader we looked to Morgan and told him we need a big one from him. I didn't know or expect to see a 13-punchout performance, but it was spectacular that we got it."
 
The sophomore right-hander from Ashland, Va., Morgan was on a strikeout kick early and often with multiple strikeouts in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh innings and struck out the side in the fourth. Morgan tossed four perfect frames in his outing for his first career quality start.
 
"Tyler was unbelievable," Mau said. "Everything we called, he executed to perfection and was untouchable tonight."
 
Everything was going Morgan's way as he continued to peg the strike zone with 79 of his career-high 128 pitches landing for strikes.
 
"I felt good throwing my curveball, fastball, and change-up sometimes, but it was really the curveball and the fastball," Morgan said. "I was able to locate my fastball wherever I wanted to tonight. The key to the strikeouts was changing their eye-level and putting it where they couldn't manage to hit it. It was working so I just kept working the ball up whether the count was 0-2 or 1-2."
 
"His fastball command was there, he was able to go to the breaker in any count, and he elevated the fastball and they couldn't lay off," Mau said. "He did an excellent job of executing his pitches tonight."
 
Morgan's outing came in a game that was tight throughout as the Lancers only managed three runs in their first seven trips to the plate, but once Longwood took its first lead in the fourth Morgan had all the run support he needed.
 
"I knew once we were through the third and it was still 0-0 I had to just keep going because eventually we'd score runs," Morgan said. "All I could do was to do my job."

Morgan became the first Lancer since Cody Wager in 2017 to toss 9.0 innings with no earned runs allowed as Wager punched out 13 in a complete game with one unearned run allowed against Presbyterian in a walk-off win last season. The complete game shutout is Longwood's first since Aaron Myers went 9.0 scoreless against Ohio University in 2014.
 
Jordan Carr (3-4) was tagged with the loss. The sophomore left-hander held Longwood to one run in 4.0 innings of work and racked up four strikeouts, but had to leave after just 63 pitches with an apparent injury.
 
The Lancers scored all five of their runs by way of home run, setting a season high with three home runs in game two. Blakeney, Tucker, and Mitchell each added to the now 13 home runs the Lancers have smacked in the past 12 games after sending just two out as a team in the first 22 games of the season.
 
"That's usually not us offensively, but as of late we're really doing a good job," Mau said. "We're really taking aggressive hacks and attacking the baseball. I'm just proud of the offensive effort all day long and those three guys took three big swings that put us on the scoreboard in game two."
 
Tucker picked up two more RBI after collecting two Friday and four in game one Saturday. The sophomore shortstop now has 13 RBI in his last nine games, behind only Mitchell with six multi-RBI games on the year.
 
Mitchell went 2-for-4 with two RBI in game two and was the only Lancer to collect multiple hits in both ends of the twin bill. The game was the eighth of the year with two or more runs batted in for the senior slugger.
 
After a scoreless first three innings Longwood struck first. Leading off the bottom of the fourth Blakeney tagged an offering left over the plate, sending his second home run of the season out to left and giving the Lancers a 1-0 lead.
 
Longwood scored a pair more in the fifth inning thanks to the long ball. Miller walked with two outs to set up Tucker, who blasted out his second home run of the season to left, upping Longwood's lead to 3-0.
 
The Lancers finished their scoring via home run, as well. Miller led off the eighth with a single off the glove of the pitcher and jogged home on a towering blast to right by Mitchell, giving Longwood its first three home run game of the season.
 
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