Longwood University Athletics

Games 26-28: Longwood (9-16, 2-9 Big South) vs. High Point (9-15, 7-10 Big South)
Date & Time	Game 1: April 9, 2021 • 3 p.m. Games 2 & 3: April 10, 2021 • 1 p.m. (DH)
Location	Farmville, Va. (Buddy Bolding Stadium)
Series Notes	Longwood (PDF) | High Point | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | High Point | Big South
Live Stats	Longwood Live Stats
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodBase

Lancer Leadoff

• Longwood hosts High Point for the only weekend meeting between the two teams this season. The two sides are scheduled to play a total of five times, with four coming in Farmville.
• The Lancers piled up 14 runs on 14 hits on Tuesday against Norfolk State. The win opened an eight-game homestand that will go through April 20 against Radford.
• High Point took the first meeting between the two teams back on March 16, 9-2 at High Point.
• The Lancers have hit multiple homers in back-to-back games for the first time this season, swatting a pair of home runs at Gardner-Webb followed by three in the win against Norfolk State.
• With five home runs in their past two games, Longwood has moved into a tie for second in homers in the Big South. Eliot Dix has a team-best five, and Cullan Wadsworth has four, and both rank in the top 10 in the league.
• Longwood ranks third in strikeouts, 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

• Longwood snapped a seven game losing streak by erupting for 13 runs through two innings against Norfolk State. Cullan Wadsworth swatted two homers and Justin Looney added another to stake Longwood to a 13-0 lead. From that point on, the Lancers cruised to a 14-6 win.

By The Numbers

• The Lancers hold a .352 on-base percentage through 25 games, fifth in the Big South.
• As a team, Longwood is fourth in the Big South with 101 walks drawn. In addition, the team is third in the league after being hit by a pitch 47 times.
• Michael Peterson has drawn a team-best 14 walks, good for a tie for ninth in the Big South. Peterson also is tied for sixth in HBP with six.
• Cullan Wadsworth and Hayden Harris have been hit by a pitch five times.
• Longwood is fifth in the Big South with 198 base hits. The team's season high came against NC Central, when they knocked out 15 hits.
• In the eight games that Longwood has had at least 10 hits, the team has gone 7-1. The lone loss came against Oakland on Feb. 28.
• The Lancers hold a .239 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 138 runs scored. Cullan Wadsworth, Jack Schnell and Hunter Gilliam lead the way.
• Wadsworth is sixth in the league with 21 runs and is the only player for Longwood with at least 20.
• Schnell has scored 18 times and is part of a five-way tie for ninth in the Big South. Gilliam is just outside the top 10 with 16 runs scored.
• With five homers in the past two games, Longwood has vaulted into second in the Big South in home runs. The Lancers have hit 16, and are even with Gardner-Webb.
• 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 three-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 seventh in the Big South.
• Seven players have hit a homer for Longwood.
• Longwood is tied for fourth in the Big South with seven triples and fifth 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 eighth 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 third in the Big South in strikeouts (208), strikeouts per nine innings (8.84) and strikeouts looking (58) 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 High Point play for a weekend series after the two sides played a midweek game back in March. Longwood will also host High Point for a midweek game in May, as the two teams play five times in 2021.
• High Point won the first meeting between the two teams 9-2. High Point plated five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to jump out to a 5-1 lead. The pitching staff limited Longwood to two hits.
• The Panthers have lost three straight, dropping a tight midweek game at Elon 8-7 after losing the final two games of a three-game series against Charleston Southern. The Bucs run-ruled High Point in the series finale 15-4 after taking the second game of the series 10-7. High Point won the opener 10-5.
• High Point was selected fifth in the preseason poll for the Big South and received one first place vote.
• Offensively, High Point is hitting .259 as a team with three regular starters all hitting better than .300. Cole Singsank leads the group with a .315 batting average while posting one home run and 13 RBI on 23 hits.
• Peyton Carr has hit four of the team's 15 homers while driving home a team-best 17 runs. Carr is hitting .312 with 24 hits and 15 runs scored. Joe Johnson holds a team-high .414 on-base percentage to go with five homers and 12 RBI, and he has scored a team-leading 22 times. Johnson is the only player with at least 20 runs scored, and he has drawn 14 walks. He is hitting .308.
• Brady Pearre has hit three homers and is hitting .292 while driving in 10 runs. He is tied for the team lead with Johnson with 28 hits.
• On the mound, projected starter Grey Lyttle (3-3, 2.31 ERA) has been the team's ace, going 3-3 in his seven appearances, all starts. He has struck out a team-leading 51 batters in 39.0 innings. His ERA ranks fourth, and he is second in the Big South in strikeouts. He holds opponents to a .211 batting average against.
• Game two starter CJ Neese (0-0, 7.00 ERA) will be making his first start of 2020. Neese has made six appearances out of the bullpen and has struck out nine in nine innings. He has given up nine runs on nine hits while walking five. He does have one save. Neese did throw two scoreless innings against Longwood in their first meeting. He struck out two.
• Out of the bullpen, Parker Dean (1-1, 4.80 ERA) and Carter Sheppard (0-3, 4.12 ERA) each have a pair of saves. Joe Johnson (0-1, 6.75 ERA) and Neese also have saves.

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