Longwood University Athletics

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – With the 2019 Big South Regular Season Championship on the line, first-place Campbell secured its second straight league title with a 11-0 takedown of Longwood in the season finale Saturday afternoon at Jim Perry Stadium.
 
The Fighting Camels (32-19, 19-7 Big South) entered Saturday with a half-game lead over Radford for the top spot in the Big South and clinched the league's best record behind a four-RBI day from Tyler Anshaw and a combined four-hit shutout from starter Ryan Chasse and relievers Julian Blackburn, Logan Heintzman and Tyson Messer.
 
The Big South's No. 2 in ERA, Chasse (7-2) cruised through 6.0 shutout innings and held Longwood (11-40, 5-21 Big South) to just two hits while striking out seven. He left the game with a 10-0 lead after the sixth inning and yielded to Blackburn, Heintzman and Messer, who threw one inning apiece and worked around two Longwood singles to preserve Campbell's Big South-leading third shutout of the season.
 
Campbell's offense rewarded its conference-best pitching staff with an early lead, homering three times in the first four innings to stake a 5-0 lead. Anshaw hit the first of those with a three-run shot in the bottom of the third, and Grant Harris and Zach Minnick followed with back-to-back solo blasts in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Longwood freshman Andrew Melnyk (0-5) stuck it out on the mound for 5.0 innings, reaching that mark for the fifth straight game after working his way into Longwood's starting weekend rotation midway through the season. Melnyk fanned four and gave up five hits, though three of those left the park. The 6-6 Melnyk ends his freshman season at Longwood with a team-high 59.1 innings and 13 starts.
 
After Melnyk's exit, Longwood head coach Ryan Mau then dug deeper into his stable of freshman arms, calling on Josh Longabaugh to take over in the sixth and Carter Strickland in the seventh. Campbell touched up Longabaugh for four runs – three earned – in the sixth but then went quiet against the southpaw Strickland who went on to end his freshman campaign with his best outing of the year.
 
Strickland stopped the bleeding by retiring the side in order in the seventh and then worked out of a jam in the eighth to limit Campbell to just one run the rest of the way. He struck out a career-high three batters and allowed just one hit in his longest outing of the season.
 
However, Campbell's lead was well in hand before Strickland took the mound, and the Fighting Camels cruised the rest of the way to lock up the win and the series sweep. Along with Anshaw's four RBI, Harris and Minnick both drove in two, and leadoff man Matthew Barefoot – who homered in each of the first two games – drew three walks, scored twice, and robbed Longwood designated hitter Jacob Mitchell of a home run in the middle innings.
 
The loss ends the 2019 season for the Lancers, who send off the senior quartet of Eric Crain, Jawan McAllister, Eli Mercado and Jon Peterson. Longwood will return 30 players for 2020, including seven position starters, and its entire pitching staff outside of Peterson.
 
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