FARMVILLE, Va. – As the weather warms at Buddy Bolding Stadium, so too have Longwood's bats.
 
Powered once again by production from the entire lineup, the Lancers (14-25, 7-18 Big South) polished off a three-game series sweep over Radford with a 7-3 win in game one and a 6-4 win in game two of a Saturday doubleheader at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
The doubleheader sweep extended Longwood's hottest-hitting weekend this season, as the Lancers tagged double-digit hits in all three games including a combined 24 in Saturday's twinbill. That production allowed the Lancers to score in 11 of their 24 innings in the three-game set and fueled Longwood's first three-game series sweep over the rival Highlanders since joining the Big South in 2013.
 
Saturday's wins also gave Longwood an unconventional five-game Big South series win against Radford (18-18, 12-14 Big South) in 2021, continuing a months-long comeback that has seen Longwood avenge losses in games one and two on March 23 and April 20 with three consecutive wins in this weekend's traditional Big South series format.
 
"It's great for our confidence," said Longwood head coach Ryan Mau. "It's been a tough last month for us, and then to be shorthanded with some injuries and the contact tracing protocols, it's just a lot of adversity thrown at us. I'm really proud of the young team and the way they responded in a very competitive series."

The most recent of those victories saw eight Lancers record hits in both games Saturday, including a three-hit, two-RBI performance from Michael Dolberry in game one and another three-hit, two-RBI performance from Jack Schnell in game two. Freshman leadoff man Hayden Harris also tagged multiple hits in both games to continue a hot-hitting weekend in which he went 8-for-12.

"The at bats from Hayden Harris and Jack Schnell, we got some great at bats from those guys this weekend," Mau said. "Drayven Kowalski took some free passes and put some good at bats together, and he rolled that back over to the top of the lineup to 'Young Savage', Hayden Harris. Harris had an outstanding, outstanding weekend for us. And then Jack Schnell. I can't say enough about the way Jack Schnell swung the bat all weekend for us. Kwowalski also did a great job behind the plate for us and threw the ball very well, catching a couple guys stealing to help us get out of some innings."
 
That production backed a pair of strong starts and multiple clutch performances out of the bullpen, as Longwood used just five pitchers to get through Saturday's twinbill. In the opener, Colton Hutt scattered three runs over the first 4.1 innings before J.R. Parrish shut out Radford over the final 4.2 to earn the win.
 
In the follow-up, Andrew Melnyk put together the best performance of his career, holding Radford to just two runs on six hits over 7.0 complete innings before relievers Matt Shobe and Michael Tolson, who earned a two-out save, took over to close out the final two frames.

"Defensively, we made plays, and I thought the defense from us was really clean today," Mau said. "I thought we competed on teh mound, and offensively we came up with timely hits and executed. We put all three facets together this weekend, and that was great to see."
 
With the sweep, Longwood will now enter its final three-week stretch of the regular season, which will pit the Lancers against four different Big South foes the rest of the way. The first of those matchups comes next Friday, May 7, with a road doubleheader at UNC Asheville.
 
Game One: Eighth-Inning Rally Sends Lancers Past Radford 7-3 to Clinch Series
 
Pounding double-digit hits for a second straight game, Longwood rode a 3-for-4, two-RBI day from freshman Michael Dolberry and an eighth-inning rally to take down Radford 7-3 in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
 
The 6-0, 185-pound Dolberry finished a home run shy of the cycle and drove in his RBI with a fourth-inning triple and an eighth-inning double that helped the Lancers capture their second straight win over the Highlanders and their first three-game series win against Radford since 2016.
 
The Lancers claimed that doubleheader-opening win came by way of a late-game charge, breaking open a 3-3 deadlock with a four-run eighth inning that featured five hits, including Dolberry's RBI double. Freshman slugger Eliot Dix scored the go-ahead run all the way from first base on a Radford throwing error in the bottom of the eighth, which opened the floodgates for a four-run inning that featured five Longwood hits. Andrew Gorham and Michael Dolberry both had RBI base knocks that inning, which turned a 3-3 deadlock into a 7-3 Longwood lead.

"Eliot Dix led off with a single, and the big guy Hunter Gilliam put some pressure on defensively with a push bunt, and then we cashed in on their defensive mistake and followed up with some big time hits," Mau said. "That's what good teams do. They take advantage of mistakes. We were able to do that there in the eighth inning and make it hurt."
 
That big inning put reliever J.R. Parrish (1-0) in line for the win after the left-handed sophomore entered the game in the top of the fifth and shut out the Highlanders the rest of the way. His 4.2 innings of scoreless work were a career-long for the 6-2 southpaw, who faced just two over the minimum.
 
Parrish and starter Colton Hutt – who scattered three runs on six hits over 4.1 innings – also benefited from a Longwood defense that did not commit a single error and saw catcher Drayven Kowalski throw out two of Radford's three runners trying to steal second base. The Lancers turned two double plays, one of which was a third-to-first turn by Dix and the other a traditional 6-4-3 twin-killing from Ricky Jimenez to Hayden Harris to first baseman Hunter Gilliam.

"We knew we were thin on the mound, and we were going to need some people to step up," said Mau. "I thought Colton Hutt competed. He gave us some really good innings and kept us right in it. Then I thought JR Parrish came out of the pen a little shaky, but he made an adjustment and settled down. I thought he was outstanding in the back half of the game."
 
Parrish and Hutt combined to outduel Radford starter Greg Duncan (5-1), who suffered his first loss of the season after the Lancers tagged him for five runs, three earned, on nine hits. The 6-3 graduate transfer from UVA Wise struck out seven and did not issue a single walk, but gave up Dix's leadoff single in the eighth to open the door for Longwood's game-winning rally.

"I thought Duncan was really tough on the mound for them," Mau said. "I thought we put good at bats together early, and I thought he settled down. He made an adjustment, and it took us a little while to get another adjustment made there. They just continued to fight, and it took a while, but we were able to break through late in that game and pull away."

"Offensively, that was a pretty complete lineup effort. Again, Hayden Harris starts us off with a double in the first inning, and it sets a tone for us offensively. Michael Dolberry came up with some big time swings."
 
Along with Dolberry's three-hit day, Dix, Harris and Jimenez also had multi-hit days with two knocks apiece.
 
Game Two: Melnyk's Masterpiece Clinches 6-4 Win and Series Sweep
 
Sophomore southpaw Andrew Melnyk spun the best start of his collegiate career, holding Radford to two runs on six hits over 7.0 complete frames to carry the Lancers to a 6-4 win in the series finale.
 
Melnyk (1-3) struck out four and walked two while firing just 96 pitches in the longest of his 25 career starts. He retired 11 straight from the end of the third through the sixth and left the game with a 6-2 lead after the seventh. During his mid-game tear, Melnyk used just 33 pitches to record those 11 outs, which included three of his four punchouts.
 
"I thought Andrew Melnyk was really good, and we're all super excited for him to finally grab that W," Mau said of his the 6'6 lefty. "We've won games because of Andrew Melnyk, but he just hasn't been statistically credited with the win, and so to clear that hurdle is huge for him. He was very deserving tonight."

"He weorked out of a jam in the second, and then I thought he was on cruise control in the middle innings. They were very aggressive early in teh count, and he got a lot of weak contact. I thought the change-up was really going for him, and that allowed him to go deep in the game for us."

With Melnyk cruising en route to his first career victory, Longwood's offense went to work and built him an early 6-0 lead. Longwood scored twice each in the second, fourth and sixth innings, with two of those runs coming from RBI base knocks from Jack Schnell, who went 3-or-4 with a walk out of the two-spot. His bases-loaded RBI single in the bottom of the fourth made it a 3-0 game, and he followed with a monstrous RBI double two innings later to extend the lead to 5-0.
 
Hunter Gilliam also mashed an RBI double of his own immediately after Schnell's in the sixth as he and Schnell combined to send in four of Longwood's six runs. Catcher Drayven Kowalski, who went 1-for-3 with a run and caught two runners stealing in game one, added two more runs and a sacrifice fly in game two.

That early run support proved to be crucial in the later innings as Radford mounted a late-game rally, beginning with a two-run seventh against Melnyk. Jalen Buster and Garrett Matheny sent in both of those runs after the Highlanders opened the inning with back-to-back singles from Will Harless and Anthony Galati.
 
However, Melnyk settled down after Matheny's RBI double and limited the damage to two runs before yielding the ball to reliever Matt Shobe. Shobe fired a scoreless eighth inning, getting all three outs by strikeout but found himself in a two-on jam in the top of the ninth. He left the game with runners on second and third in favor of freshman Michael Tolson, who allowed a two-run single to Radford two-hitter Sean Cheely that cut Longwood's lead to 6-4. However, Tolson fought back to sit down two of the next three hitters he faced to cap the win and secure his first career save.
 
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