The First Pitch:
• Longwood plays its second straight conference series on the road with a trip to UNC Asheville.
• The Lancers last had back-to-back road trips to start conference play in the 2021 season that saw the schedule tweaked due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, the team had never opened with back-to-back road trips to start Big South play since joining the league in 2013.
• Longwood owns a 14-10 record against Asheville since joining the Big South. The Lancers won two of three last season in Farmville, but Asheville has won five of the past six matchups in Asheville.
• This series marks the third time in the last four meetings that Asheville has been the host due to the meeting in 2020 being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Lancers are on the back end of a stretch that sees them play 15 of 19 on the. The two longest road stretches of the season, seven and eight games respectively, are sandwiched around a four-game homestand.
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Eliot Dix was named the Big South Co-Player of the Week on Monday, March 20 for posting a .706 batting average during the week. He is Longwood's first Player of the Week this season. He had a pair of five-hit games in the week.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood dropped a tight midweek game at VCU on Tuesday, 5-2.
• The Lancers put six runners on base with five walks and a hit in the first three innings, but VCU was able to escape the jam each time.
• VCU took the lead 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the Rams never trailed after that.
• The Rams extended the lead to 4-0 a few innings later, but the Lancers responded in the seventh inning.
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Eliot Dix and
Gregory Ryan, Jr. both reached base safely in the seventh inning, and
Justin Looney beat the shift with a two-run single through the right side. Looney's base knock cut the lead to 4-2.
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Ried Dittner was solid in relief, and the righthander retired all four batters he faced after entering in a bases-loaded jam. He retired the first batter on a flyout to right to end the threat and followed it by setting VCU down in order in the next inning.
Around The Bases:
• Longwood was picked to finish sixth in the Big South Preseason Poll after finishing eighth in the final standings in 2022.
• Defensively, Longwood's .975 fielding percentage is second in the Big South, behind only Gardner-Webb.
• The Lancer offense is tied for fourth in the Big South with 39 doubles as a team.
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Eliot Dix leads Longwood with eight doubles, which is tied for third in the Big South.
• Dix leads the conference in hits with 34 which ranks 34th in the nation. He sports a .405 batting average, which is third in the Big South and is 89th in the nation.
• Longwood is third in the Big South with 32 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 32-38 when attempting to steal.
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Ethan Barnes leads the team with six stolen bases, and he is 6-6 on the season.
• Thirteen different players have stolen a base for Longwood, and 10 players have stolen at least two.
• The Lancer offense is tied for sixth in the Big South in home runs with 18 on the season.
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Gregory Ryan, Jr. leads Longwood with six home runs, and
James Nelson is second on the team with four.
• Ryan is tied for fourth in the Big South in homers, and Nelson is tied for tenth.
• Nine different players have homered for the Lancers: Ryan, Nelson,
Eliot Dix,
Hayden Harris,
Dylan Wilkinson,
Luis DeLeon,
Drew Camp,
Drayven Kowalski and
Tanner Thomas.
• Ryan is tied for tenth in the Big South with 19 RBI. He had a career day on Saturday, March 11 with 5 RBI in the second game against Iona.
• On the mound,
Andrew Potojecki leads the Big South with a 1.88 ERA. The righthander has not surrendered more than two earned runs in a single outing this season.
• In his past two outings, Potojecki has struck out 15 batters in 14.0 innings. Most recently, he tied a career best with 7.0 innings at Gardner-Webb on March 19, and he retired the side in order in six of the seven innings.
• Against Iona on March 11, Potojecki set a career best with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings. He gave up two unearned runs on six hits and a walk to earn his first win of the 2023 campaign.
• Potojecki leads the team with 27 strikeouts. He is tied for 10th in the Big South in K's and leads the Big South in strikeouts looking with 13.
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Andrew Melnyk has served as a strikeout artist out of the bullpen. The lefty is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning with 18 K's in 10.0 innings and sports a 3.60 ERA.
• The Virginia Beach native earned a relief win after not surrendering a run in 2.0 innings to open the three-game series against Iona. He struck out four without giving up a run and only allowed one hit and one walk.
• In the series opener against Delaware State, he entered with Longwood holding a 5-4 lead. After issuing a leadoff walk, Melnyk proceeded to strike out six straight to end the game and earn the save.
• Guillermo Garcia put together a strong outing on Wednesday, March 15 against Richmond. He earned his second save of the season by retiring the side in order to preserve a 7-5 win.
• Garcia followed it up with 4.0 shutout innings at Gardner-Webb. He struck out four in the outing and sports a 2.92 ERA on the season.
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Kevin Warunek has thrown well in his first two appearances out of the bullpen for Longwood. The lefthander has tossed two scoreless innings while striking out two.
#GoWood #HorsePower
