Longwood University Athletics

Games 40-42: Longwood (14-25, 7-18 Big South) at UNC Asheville (13-25, 12-18 Big South)
Date & Time	Games 1 & 2: May 7, 2021 • 2 p.m. (DH) Game 3: May 8, 2021 • 4 p.m.
Location	Asheville, N.C. (Greenwood Baseball Field)
Series Notes	Longwood (PDF) | UNC Asheville | Big South
Statistics	Longwood (HTML) | UNC Asheville | Big South
Live Stats	All Games: UNC Asheville Live Stats
TV/Video	Game 1: ESPN+ Game 2: ESPN+ Game 3: ESPN+
Social Media	@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodBase

Lancer Leadoff

• Longwood heads to UNC Asheville for a weekend series for the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this season.
• The Lancers are coming off a three-game sweep of Radford that saw the team total 37 hits while hitting .363 as a team.
• Six players drove in at least two runs for Longwood in the series, with Hunter Gilliam driving in a team-best six.
• Seven players scored at least two runs apiece, with Drayven Kowalski scoring a team-high four times. Five other players tallied three runs, and the Lancers totaled 23 over the three games.
• The Longwood offense ranks third in the Big South in hits ((346) and fourth in RBI (195) and runs scored (218).
• Hayden Harris led the way against Radford by going 8-12 at the plate while scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs. He added a double while also having three sacrifice hits. He was named the Big South Co-Freshman of the Week.
• Longwood's pitching staff is third in the Big South in strikeouts with 312 and second in strikeouts looking (90). 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 polished off a sweep of Radford with a 6-4 win. Andrew Melnyk went a career best 7.0 innings while striking out four to earn his first collegiate win. Jack Schnell led the offense by going 3-4 with two RBI and a run scored, and Hunter Gilliam added two RBI. Michael Tolson earned his first save by closing it out to preserve the win.

By The Numbers

• The Lancers hold a .360 on-base percentage through 39 games, sixth in the Big South.
• As a team, Longwood is fifth in the Big South with 149 walks drawn. In addition, the team is third in the league after being hit by a pitch 58 times.
• Jack Schnell has drawn a team-best 17 walks. Michael Peterson and Cullan Wadsworth have each been hit by a pitch seven times to lead the team.
• Longwood is third in the Big South with 346 base hits, and they are fifth with a .263 batting average. The team has posted a season-high 15 hits twice. The first came against NC Central in a 22-14 win, while the second came in a 7-6 loss to Presbyterian.
• In the 17 games that Longwood has had at least 10 hits, the team has gone 12-5. 
• Longwood has posted at least 10 hits in nine of their past 12 games.
• 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 218 runs scored. Cullan Wadsworth, Hayden Harris, Jack Schnell, Hunter Gilliam, Ricky Jimenez and Eliot Dix lead the way.
• Wadsworth and Harris have scored 25 runs apiece while Schnell has totaled 24 runs. Dix, Gilliam and Jimenez have all scored 22 runs apiece.
• Since April 1, Longwood has hit 12 home runs, which represents more than half of the team's season total of 23.
• The team's 23 home runs rank fifth in the Big South. Eleven players have hit a homer for the Lancers.
• Eliot Dix leads the team with five home runs, and Cullan Wadsworth and Ricky Jimenez have each hit four homers. Hunter Gilliam has hit two.
• Seven players have hit their first Division I collegiate homers this year for Longwood, with Hayden Harris, James Nelson, Ricky Jimenez, Dillon Champagne, Keondre Shelton and Aiden Tierney all hitting home runs.
• 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 had Longwood's first multi-homer game this season by bopping out two homers on opening day at The Citadel.
• 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 has four on the season.
• Ricky Jimenez became the third Lancer with a multi-homer game this season, smashing two home runs on April 17 in game one against Presbyterian.
• As a team, Longwood is third in the Big South in strikeouts (312) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.44) while ranking second in strikeouts looking (90) 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.
• Hayden Harris had a monster weekend against Radford on April 30 and May 1, batting .667 (8-12) at the plate in the leadoff spot for Longwood.
• The freshman had three straight multi-hit games. On April 30, he tied a career high with four hits. He has had 11 multi-hit games this season for Longwood, third-best on the team.
• In conference play, Harris is batting .305, and he is tied for second on the team with 25 base hits in the team's 25 conference contests.
• Logan Berrior has been the ace in the hole out of the bullpen for Longwood. He holds a 3.19 ERA and has only given up 14 runs, 11 earned, in 14 relief appearances that have spanned 31.0 innings.
• Each of his past four outings have all lasted at least 3.0 innings.
• Meanwhile, Berrier has struck out 34 over his team-best 14 appearances and has only given up 23 hits and 17 walks in his outings.
• Berrier has earned two saves, with the first coming in Longwood's 10-8 win over Charleston Southern. He earned the second with a 3.2 solid innings against Radford on April 30 to close out a 10-7 win.
• The freshman has earned two wins in relief. The first came in Longwood's 7-3 victory against Winthrop. He went a career-best 4.1 innings to earn the win against High Point on 4/10 in game two.
• Berrier has struck out multiple batters in 10 of his 14 outings. Eight of his outings have lasted at least 2.0 innings.

Scouting UNC Asheville

• Longwood and UNC Asheville meet for their only weekend series this season.
• The two sides haven't played since 2019, with UNC Asheville sweeping a series against Longwood that season. Longwood swept the Bulldogs in 2018 in Farmville.
• Asheville is 9-5 at home this season, and the team has won all four Big South series that have been played in its home ballpark, taking down Campbell, Radford, Presbyterian and Charleston Southern two games to one.
• The Bulldogs come in having lost four straight, with all four coming on the road. They were swept by Campbell 19-1, 12-2 and 9-1 before falling on Wednesday night at Presbyterian 4-2.
• Asheville's offense is third in the Big South in home runs, with 30 on the season, and tied for fourth with triples (10).
• Brandon Lankford has hit half of his team's homers, cranking out 15 to lead the Big South this season. In addition, he is hitting .354 (7th in the Big South) with a .444 on-base percentage (10th in the Big South). His 51 hits ranks second in the league, and he is tied for 7th with 34 RBI. He has also scored a team-high 32 times.
• Dominic Freeberger is second on the team with five home runs while also driving in 23 runs, and he is hitting .305 with a team-high nine doubles and three triples. Wade Chandler is hitting .328 in 67 at bats. Sophomore MJ Lucas has hit four homers while hitting .228 in 79 at bats, and Grayson Preslar has hit three homers with a .247 average.
• On the mound, Kole Harris and Jacob Edwards have started a combined 18 times and made 31 appearances for UNC Asheville. Edwards (3-6, 6.12 ERA) has made a team-high 11 starts in his 16 appearances and leads the Bulldogs with 50.0 innings. He has struck out 38 to 19 walks. Harris (2-1, 4.46 ERA) is second on the team with 42.1 innings of work while striking out 34 to 19 walks. Justin Honeycutt (3-1, 5.66 ERA) is scheduled to make his second start of the season. He has made 12 relief appearances in addition to his start and has struck out 28 in 35.0 innings.
• Out of the bullpen, Ethan Tressler (1-2, 7.58 ERA) has made a team-leading 17 appearances. He has struck out 22 in 19.0 innings of work while also tallying two saves. Dominic Freeberger (1-0, 2.08 ERA) has made only nine appearances but has a pair of saves in 8.2 innings while striking out seven.
• Trey Jernigan (1-2, 4.97 ERA) has made 16 appearances with two starts, striking out 27 in 29.0 innings, and the senior has one save.

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