ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Longwood's offense exploded for 10 runs on 11 hits, led by senior first baseman Justin Mitchell reaching five times as the Lancers took down Navy, 10-2, Sunday at Bishop Stadium.
 
Longwood (15-31) capped off the weekend in Annapolis with the game three win, breaking out for the big offensive game after being held to two runs in the doubleheader Saturday against Navy (36-13), the regular season champions in the Patriot League.
 
"Today was one of the most complete games we played in quite some time," Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said. "Starting with Tyler Morgan on the mound filling up the strike zone we had no walks by our pitching staff today. He did a good job of pitching to contact."
 
Morgan (3-3) was the latest of a solid showing all weekend by Longwood starters as all three Lancer pitchers recorded quality starts. Morgan efficiently navigated his way through the Navy lineup, needing just 88 pitches to get through 8.0 innings. Morgan scattered eight hits and held Navy to two runs with four strikeouts and no walks in the win. John Gregory took the Lancers the final inning, tossing a perfect frame with one strikeout.
 
"Offensively we came up with some big hits when we need them," Mau said. "We executed situationally and had some good executions of safety squeezes. Defensively it was an outstanding day as we turned a couple of doubleplays to get out of innings, but overall I was really pleased with the game today."
 
At the plate Mitchell went 3-for-3 with a home run, two walks, two runs scored, and two RBI to extend his on-base streak to 18 games, the longest streak by a Lancer this season and two games shy of his career-best mark, set a season ago. Mitchell's streak is the third longest by a Lancer in the past two seasons as Antwaun Tucker also reached in 20 straight games in 2017 and Sammy Miller reached in 30 straight at one point last season.
 
Nate Blakeney also put together a solid game going 3-for-5 with an RBI in the series finale. Blakeney, Mitchell, and Eli Mercado each picked up multiple hits in the Lancer victory. Longwood also picked up seven stolen bases in the victory, one shy of the season high for stolen bases for the Lancers.
 
"Justin got us started with the long ball and he absolutely smashed that one," Mau said. "Mo Blakeney then came up with some big hits, which we needed. Grant Keller also put down a pair of squeeze bunts to pick up some RBIs. The middle of our lineup needs to continue to produce for us to make a push down the stretch. Hopefully we can build off of this one and keep the momentum going."
 
Mitchell wasted no time to extend his streak of games reached safely to 18. In the top of the first inning Mitchell took a healthy hack on a 2-0 offering, depositing the pitch over the wall in right for his sixth homer of the season and giving the Lancers a 1-0 lead.
 
Longwood continued the scoring in the second inning with well-executed situational hitting. Jawan McAllister was hit by pitch to start the frame and then stole second base to put a runner into scoring position. Joey Mendez worked a walk to place a pair on with no outs. The next batter was Ryan Shull, who singled to right on a perfectly executed hit-and-run, scoring McAllister and giving the Lancers a 2-0 lead. After Mendez went first-to-third on the play, Longwood's catcher was able to jog home on Mercado's RBI flare single to center, upping the lead to 3-0. After Miller moved Mercado to second on a sacrifice bunt and Mitchell walked to load the bases, Keller reached on an RBI fielder's choice to make it a three-run frame. Blakeney continued the frame with an infield RBI single, making it a 5-0 Lancer advantage.
 
After the Lancers sent nine men to the plate in the second inning, Longwood was right back to it in the third. McAllister struck out to start the inning, but reached on a wild pitch to give Longwood a lead-off base runner. After McAllister moved up to second on a ground out, he went for third on a two-strike pitch with one out in the inning. McAllister stole third on a called third strike and the throw from the plate got into left field, allowing McAllister to score and up the Lancer lead to 6-0.
 
Longwood tagged the extra point in the fourth. Miller started the frame with a single back up the middle to give the Lancers a third straight inning with a lead-off runner. Mitchell followed with a hard-hit single into right field, moving Miller from first to third base. Keller brought in the run with a safety squeeze bunt to first base, picking up his second RBI and making it 7-0 Longwood. After Blakeney singled for his third hit of the game, placing runners on the corners with one out, Tucker hit a smash to left that was caught and brought in the run on a sacrifice fly, giving the Lancers an 8-0 lead.
 
Navy got on the board in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Zach Biggers and Stephen Born brought in a run for the Midshipmen to break up Morgan's shutout bid. A pair of ground balls brought in a second run in the frame, cutting the Longwood lead to 8-2.
 
Longwood got the runs back in the sixth with an efficient rally. Mercado dropped a flare single into center to start the top of the sixth, picking up his second hit of the day. After Miller walked the Lancers pulled off a double steal to move two into scoring position. Mitchell brought in the first run of the frame with an RBI single to center. Keller then picked up his third RBI of the game with a safety squeeze bunt pushed up the first base line, giving himself up to bring in the run and make it a 10-2 Longwood lead.
 
Though the Lancers played its weekend out of conference action, Longwood remains in the seven-spot in the Big South standings at the completion of all games Sunday. The Lancers (7-14 Big South) need to finish within the top eight to qualify for the Big South Tournament. Longwood has two conference series remaining with three games at Presbyterian (6-15 Big South) upcoming and three games at home against Gardner-Webb (11-10 Big South) to wrap up the season.
 
The Lancers continue non-conference play with a midweek game at home Wednesday against Richmond. The game will air on the Big South Network and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Buddy Bolding Stadium.

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