Longwood University Athletics

Games 29-32 Longwood (10-18, 3-11 Big South) vs. Presbyterian (7-10, 6-5 Big South)
Date & Time	Games 1 & 2: April 16, 2021 • 1 p.m. (DH) Games 3 & 4: April 17, 2021 • 12 p.m. (DH)
Location	Farmville, Va. (Buddy Bolding Stadium)
Series Notes	Longwood (PDF) | Presbyterian | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | Presbyterian | Big South
Live Stats	Longwood Live Stats
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodBase

Lancer Leadoff

• Longwood hosts Presbyterian for a four-game series, the first time Longwood has played a four-game series since hosting Oakland for four games Feb. 23-25.
• The Lancers were originally scheduled to play Presbyterian for a three-game series on March 12 & 13 in addition to the series this weekend.
• Longwood is in the midst of a nine-game homestand, the team's longest of the season, following the addition of the fourth game this weekend. The Lancers will host Radford on Tuesday to wrap up the homestand.
• James Nelson had a monster Saturday on April 10, going a combined 7-8 through the doubleheader for Longwood. The freshman hit his first collegiate home run to go with five RBI and three runs.
• Longwood has hit seven homers in its past five games, with six different players hitting the round-trippers.
• Longwood ranks second in strikeouts and third in strikeouts per nine innings and strikeouts looking in the Big South, continuing a trend under head coach Ryan Mau. The team has ranked in the top three in the league four times in the past six seasons.

Last Time Out

• James Nelson led the Lancers past High Point in the series finale. The freshman went 4-4 with a game-tying homer in the second inning and the go-ahead RBI single in the fourth inning of an 8-1 win. Dylan Saale (4.2 IP, 1 R) and Logan Berrier (4.1 IP, 0 R) shut down High Point on the mound, with Berrier earning the win.

By The Numbers

• The Lancers hold a .349 on-base percentage through 28 games.
• As a team, Longwood is fifth in the Big South with 105 walks drawn. In addition, the team is third in the league after being hit by a pitch 51 times.
• Michael Peterson has drawn a team-best 14 walks. He is also tied for seventh in the lead after being hit by seven pitches.
• Cullan Wadsowrth is tied for ninth after being hit by a pitch six times.
• The Lancers are fourth in the Big South with 151 runs scored. Cullan Wadsworth, Jack Schnell, Hunter Gilliam and Hayden Harris lead the way.
• Wadsworth is tied for sixth in the league with 23 runs and is the only player for Longwood with at least 20.
• Schnell has scored 18 times while Gilliam and Harris have each scored 16 times.
• With seven homers in the past five games, Longwood sits fourth in the Big South in home runs. The Lancers have hit 18, and are tied with High Point.
• The team hit a season-high three home runs against Norfolk State after hitting two against Gardner-Webb, the first time in 2021 Longwood has hit multiple home runs in back-to-back games.
• Eliot Dix leads the Lancers with five long balls and is part of a five-way tie for fourth in the Big South.
• Cullan Wadsworth had his first multi-homer game of his Longwood career against Norfolk State, swatting a two-run and a three-run bomb. He is tied for ninth in the Big South with four.
• Nine players have hit a homer for Longwood.
• Longwood is fifth in the Big South with 226 base hits. The team's season high came against NC Central, when they knocked out 15 hits.
• In the nine games that Longwood has had at least 10 hits, the team has gone 8-1. The lone loss came against Oakland on Feb. 28.
• The Lancers hold a .243 batting average.
• Longwood's offense tied for third in the Big South with 150 hits in 2020 while ranking fourth in hits per game with 8.8. The team was also third in RBI with 77.
• Longwood is tied for fourth in the Big South with seven triples and sixth with 24 stolen bases.
• The Lancers have also been efficient swiping extra bags, going 24-33 on steal attempts.
• Michael Peterson leads the way on the bases for Longwood, posting a team-best five stolen bases on seven attempts. The speedster is tied for tenth in the league in stolen bases.
• Ten different players have stolen a base for Longwood.
• Meanwhile, Hunter Gilliam has cranked three triples to lead Longwood and tie for the lead in the Big South. The big first baseman hit triples in back-to-back games against Norfolk State on March 9 and March 14 (game one) in addition to his triple on opening day at The Citadel.
• Andrew Gorham is tied for third in the league with two triples. Drayven Kowalski and Cullan Wadsworth have the other two triples for the Lancers.
• As a team, Longwood is tied for second in the Big South in strikeouts (221) and is third in strikeouts per nine innings (8.33) and strikeouts looking (63) to continue a trend under head coach Ryan Mau. The Lancers have ranked in the top three of the Big South in strikeouts four times in the previous six seasons
• Longwood topped the Big South in strikeouts in per nine innings in 2020 while finishing second in total strikeouts
• The Lancers have consistently ranked near the top of the Big South in strikeouts. In 2019, the Lancers were fourth with 411 K's. In 2018, the Lancers were third with 468 K's. In 2017, Longwood led the Big South with 511 punchouts in 2017, breaking the school's D-I record of 440.  That season, Longwood was also third in the nation with 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. The Lancers were fifth in the Big South in 2016 with 404 K's and third in 2015 with 440 K's.

Scouting Presbyterian

• Longwood and Presbyterian meet for the first time in 2021 after their first meeting was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns in the Blue Hose program. With the first series being postponed, the two teams will now play four times in Farmville.
• Presbyterian last played on April 6 against UNC Asheville, winning 5-4 over the Bulldogs in 14 innings. That followed a three-game series at UNC Asheville on April 2 & 3 that saw PC win the opener 6-1 before falling 8-5 and 7-6 in games two and three.
• Prior to that series, PC swept Charleston Southern to close the month of March, 2-1, 3-0 and 3-1. The Blue Hose started the season at Auburn, dropping a three-game series before falling on the road at Wofford. PC split a doubleheader at Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 27 before going on pause.
• The Blue Hose have already gone to extra innings three times this season, losing the series finale to Auburn 2-1 in the 10th. PC beat Radford 7-6 in 11 innings and beat UNC Asheville 5-4 in 14 innings.
• Presbyterian is hitting .244 on the season with 14 homers. Nine different players have hit a home run for the Blue Hose. Eric Toth leads the way with four homer runs and 10 RBI, the only player to have hit in at least 10 runs for Presbyterian.
• Chris Veach leads the team with a .348 batting average. He has scored 11 runs on 24 hits with four RBI. He has hit a team-best five doubles to go with one home run.
• On the mound, Duncan Howard (1-1), Charlie McDaniel (2-0) and Eric Miles (2-1) have all started in all four of their appearances. Howard has a team-best 1.64 ERA in 22.0 innings with 14 strikeouts to eight walks. He has only given up eight runs, four earned, on 18 hits. Miles leads the team with 20 strikeouts in 23.1 innings. He holds a 5.40 ERA and has given up 16 runs, 14 earned, on 24 hits. McDaniel has won two of his four starters and has pitched a team-leading 25.1 innings. He has struck out six while working around 24 hits to only give up eight runs.
• Out of the bullpen, Chris Veach has a team-best two saves in 10.0 innings, striking out nine in his six appearances with a 1.80 ERA. Eric Toth holds a 2-1 record in 12.1 innings while striking out eight in five appearances out of the bullpen, posting a 2.92 ERA.

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