Longwood University Athletics

Game 25: Longwood (8-16, 2-9 Big South) vs. Norfolk State (9-17, 5-3 MEAC)
Date & Time	April 6, 2021 • 5 p.m.
Location	Farmville, Va. (Buddy Bolding Stadium)
Series Notes	Longwood (PDF) | Norfolk State | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | Norfolk State | Big South
Live Stats	Longwood Live Stats
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodBase

Lancer Leadoff

• Longwood comes home to host Norfolk State for the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams. The Lancers are 2-1 on the season against the Spartans
• The Lancers have played 13 of their past 16 away from home due to schedule adjustments.
• Longwood begins a stretch of eight straight at home, the team's longest homestand of 2021 and longest since 10 straight near the end of the 2019 season.
• Longwood's offense ranks fourth in the Big South with 124 runs.
• Eliot Dix has been named the Big South Freshman of the Week twice this season and leads Longwood with 20 RBI (5th in the Big South) and five home runs (T2nd in Big South).
• Hunter Gilliam has a team-best 30 hits, good for a tie for second in the Big South. In addition, Gilliam's .333 batting average is tied for eighth in the league.
• Longwood's pitching staff is third in the Big South in strikeouts with 200 and strikeouts per nine innings with 8.88. The staff has finished in the top three of the league four times in head coach Ryan Mau's six prior seasons at the helm.

Last Time Out

• Longwood hit a pair of home runs in the series finale, but Gardner-Webb chipped away and finished a sweep of Longwood with a 7-3 win on April 2. The Runnin' Bulldogs used middle inning runs to take the lead while drawing 10 walks.

By The Numbers

• The Lancers hold a .344 on-base percentage through 24 games.
• As a team, Longwood is fourth in the Big South with 93 walks drawn. In addition, the team is second in the league after being hit by a pitch 45 times.
• Michael Peterson has drawn a team-best 13 walks and is also tied for sixth in the Big South after being hit by a pitch six times.
• Cullan Wadsworth and Hayden Harris have been hit by a pitch five times, good for a tie for tenth in the conference.
• Longwood has put up 184 hits on the season, ranking sixth in the Big South. The team's season high came against NC Central, when they knocked out 15 hits.
• The Lancers hold a .232 batting average as a team. The team's 111 RBI are tied for third in the Big South.
• 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.
• The Lancers are fourth in the Big South with 124 runs scored with Cullan Wadsworth, Jack Schnell and Hunter Gilliam leading the way.
• Wadsworth is tied for sixth in the league with 18 runs. Schnell has scored 16 times and sits just outside the top 10 in the league. Gilliam has added 14 runs.
• Longwood is third in the Big South with seven triples and fifth with 22 stolen bases.
• The Lancers have also been efficient swiping extra bags, going 22-30 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 seventh in the league in stolen bases.
• Nine 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 fourth in the league with two triples. Drayven Kowalski and Cullan Wadsworth have the other two triples for the Lancers.
• As a team, Longwood is third in the Big South in strikeouts (200), strikeouts looking (53) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.88) 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 Norfolk State

• Longwood and Norfolk State meet for the fourth time in 2021. The two sides played three games over the course of a week earlier this season. Originally, the two teams were scheduled for a midweek game, but they added a Sunday doubleheader when Longwood's Big South matchup with Presbyterian was postponed.
• The Lancers are 2-1 against Norfolk State, having won the first two games 7-4 and 8-5. Dillon Champagne had both saves out of the bullpen. Cullan Wadsworth went 5-12 at the plate in the three games, while Eliot Dix went 4-11.
• Norfolk State has opened conference play 5-3 in the MEAC. The Spartans took their conference opening series by winning three of four at Coppin State, dropping the opener 13-12 before winning 4-1, 10-5 and 9-3. They hosted Delaware State and split a four-game series over the weekend. Delaware State won the opening game 5-2 and the finale 2-1 while Norfolk State took games two and three 5-3 and 7-2.
• Offensively, Alsander Womack was the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year and leads the team with a .344 batting average. In addition, he has hit two homers while tying for the team lead with 15 RBI and leading the way with 26 runs scored.
• Mason Velasquez is tied for the team lead in homers with four while hitting .279 with 14 RBI. Korey Singh also has four home runs and is tied with Womack with 15 RBI. Dionte Brown is hitting .313 while leading the team with 13 stolen bases, going 13-15 on steal attempts.
• Projected starter Ridge Walker (0-2, 16.68 ERA) has already started once against Longwood back on March 9. Walker took the loss. He went 4.1 innings while striking out four against three runs on six hits and a walk. That start was his longest outing of the season. On the season, he has struck out seven in 11.1 innings. He surrendered seven runs in his most recent outing against Richmond.
• Out of the bullpen, Nolan Manzer (0-1, 0.77 ERA, 1 SV), Alex Wright (1-3, 10.12 ERA, 1 SV) and Kris Artis (0-0, 18.00 ERA, 1 SV) all have saves, with Manzer and Artis making five relief appearances while Wright has started four times in six appearances. Manzer has struck out 16 in 11.2 innings. Michael Portela (0-2, 8.76 ERA) has made a team-leading eight relief appearances and has struck out 12 in 12.1 innings.

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