ROCK HILL, S.C. – Longwood head coach Kathy Riley picked up the 700th win in her time at Longwood Saturday, as the Lancers took a split and the series against Winthrop at Terry Field.

Sydney Backstrom was outdueled in a 3-1 loss in the opening game of the day before Jordan Clark added a pair of RBI, Jenna Dunn belted the go-ahead home run and Arleigh Wood picked up her second win of the week in a 4-2 decision to hand Riley her 700th win in her 22 seasons at Longwood.

Riley, who's in her 22nd season at Longwood, now owns 700 career victories in her 22 seasons with the Lancers. In her 21 previous seasons with the Lancers, she has never posted a record below the .500 mark while winning 30-plus games in 14 of her 21 previous seasons to go along with three seasons with 40-plus wins.

"It's not something that I think about too much during the course of the season," Riley said. "Once you get more time to yourself and can think about the opportunity and longevity that you've had, that's when it sinks in how fortunate I've been."  

Including her four seasons at Mount Olive prior to her arrival at Longwood, a Riley-coached team has not finished below the .500 mark since her first two campaigns with the Trojans. Saturday's feat is the latest in a string that has the coach 13 wins away from No. 800 in her 26-year head coaching career.

"She's taught me so much in my two seasons at Longwood so far, more than I could've imagined" said sophomore Jenna Dunn. "She's an awesome coach to play for and I'm really happy for her."

With Saturday's split, Longwood (14-9, 2-1 Big South) wins the opening series of the conference slate for the sixth time in its seven seasons in the Big South.

Jordan Clark led the Lancers throughout the two games at the plate in going 3-for-6, including a 2-for-3 performance in Saturday's second game with a double and a home run.

In the circle, the Lancers pitched to a 1.62 ERA highlighted by Arleigh Wood picking up her second win of the week in a game that Sydney Gay came on to throw a scoreless 2.1 innings to pick up the save. Sydney Backstrom allowed one earned run in her seven innings and had a career-high seven strikeouts.

"I thought the pitching was good throughout the day," Riley said. "Even though we didn't win the first game, I thought Slim [Sydney Backstrom] pitched well and gave us an opportunity. Both girls did a nice job in the second game. All three did a good job of keeping their composure which is something that we wanted to see from them."

With the conclusion of the series, Longwood will play its next 10 games at Lancer Field – it's longest stretch of the season. That stretch begins when Commonwealth rival James Madison comes to town Wednesday, March 20 with a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader.

Game 1: Lancer Rally Falls Short, 3-1

Longwood's Sydney Backstrom and Winthrop's Madyson Watson went pitch-for-pitch, as a three-run first inning proved to be the difference in a 3-1 Winthrop win over Longwood in the second game of the three-game series.

Watson (4-2) took a perfect game into the fifth inning before issuing back-to-back walks to Karleigh Donovan and Kasey Carr. Her no-hit bid came to an end one inning later, as it was broken up by a Jordan Clark single. That was one of two hits in the game for the Lancers, as Kaylynn 'Bug' Batten added an RBI single in Watson's complete-game gem.

Watson went the distance in the circle, allowing one run on two hits. She issued three walks and struck out four Lancers in facing 27 batters and throwing 95 pitches, 58 for strikes.

Watson's performance outshined Sydney Backstrom (5-5), who took the hard-luck loss in giving up three runs, one earned in her fifth complete-game effort of the season. The Huntersville, N.C., product added a career-high 10 strikeouts in the outing, four more strikeouts than her previous career-high of six strikeouts earlier this season against Appalachian State.

Backstrom held the Eagles to one hit after the opening inning and no hits through her final four innings.

"I thought Slim did a nice job," Riley said. "It wasn't like we played terrible defense. She didn't give up too many balls for us to handle. Unfortunately, we didn't get any momentum at the plate but I'll take that performance from her any day of the week. We're going to win the majority of our games if we get that kind of pitching."

Winthrop rode three runs with two out in the first inning, one of which was earned, as Taylor Charlton reached on the eventual game-deciding error to plate two runs and keep the inning alive.

Longwood had an opportunity in the seventh inning, as Carr drew a one out walk and Chelsea Whitcomb  was hit by a pitch. With two out, Leah Powell gave a ball a ride to deep left field but was caught on the warning track to even the series.

Game 2: Riley Captures Win No. 700 to Take Series at Winthrop, 4-2

A 2-for-3 day from Jordan Clark, along with the go-ahead home run from Jenna Dunn and the second win of the week from Arleigh Wood lifted Longwood to a 4-2 victory in the series finale to hand Longwood head coach Kathy Riley her 700th win with the Lancers.

Clark helped the Lancers answer an early two-run deficit, as she reached on an error to score Leah Powell and Jessica Smith. Jenna Dunn delivered the go-ahead home run one inning later before Clark's insurance home run in the sixth inning capped the win.

"I've been a rut lately so I went up trying to hit the ball hard," Dunn said. "I shortened up my swing and tried to help my team."

Riley earned her 700th win in charge of the Lancers, as she's elevated a Longwood program to national prominence with appearances in a NCAA Regional Championship game in two of the last three seasons to go with the program's four Big South Championships and two regular season Big South crowns.

"We did a nice job of handling the outside part of the plate better than earlier in the day," Riley said. "The at-bats were better and we gave ourselves a lot more chances for good things to happen."

Arleigh Wood (2-0) picked up the start and was rewarded with her second win over the last four days in giving up two runs on three hits while striking out and walking a pair. She tossed 68 pitches, 37 for strikes.

Sydney Gay earned her second save of the season, coming in with a runner on third with two out in the fifth inning. She retired two of the 10 batters she faced while adding a pair of strikeouts.

Bella Roy (2-2) took the loss for the Eagles, giving up three runs, two earned, on three hits in four-plus innings of work. Friday's starter Kiley Majette pitched the final three innings for Winthrop and allowed one run while facing 12 batters.

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