The First Pitch:
• Longwood takes on High Point to wrap up a four-game homestand that ties the longest homestand of the season.
• The Lancers played 14 of 20 games on the road in the month of March. The schedule flips slightly in April, as Longwood will play nine of its 17 games at home in the month.
• Longwood won two of the three games against High Point last season at High Point. All three games were decided by one run.
• The Lancers completed a season sweep of Richmond earlier in the week. It was the first time Longwood has swept Richmond in the program's history and also was the team's first win on the road at Richmond.
• Longwood's defense has been one of the top outfits in the Big South, fielding at a .975 fielding percentage which leads the Big South.
• The Lancer offense is second in the league in doubles, with 51, and fourth in home runs, with 25.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood split a pair of games in the midweek with a 12-2 win over Richmond followed by a 13-6 loss to George Mason.
• In Tuesday's win at Richmond, Longwood hit a season-best four home runs while grinding out 13 hits.
•
Ethan Walker tossed 5.1 strong innings in his first collegiate start to earn the win for Longwood. He struck out a career best three in his longest appearance as a Lancer.
•
Luis DeLeon clobbered a pair of late home runs for his first multi-homer game as a Lancer.
•
Eliot Dix hit the first homer of the game, a two-run shot in the first inning, and
Gregory Ryan, Jr. hit a three-run shot in the third inning. The Lancers never trailed.
• In Wednesday's game against George Mason, the Patriots used a grand slam in the second inning and a solo home run to start the third inning to take the lead against Longwood.
•
Hayden Harris hit a home run, his second of the season, and the Lancers rallied to trim the George Mason lead in both the second and third innings. GMU plated six runs over the final two innings to put the game out of reach.
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 leads the Big South.
• The Lancer offense is second in the Big South in doubles with 51 and trails only Campbell.
•
Eliot Dix leads Longwood with 10 doubles, which is third in the Big South and is tied for 38th in the nation.
• Dix leads the conference in hits with 42 which ranks 16th in the nation. He sports a .400 batting average, which is third in the Big South and is 68th in the nation.
• Longwood has hit 25 home runs as a team, which is good for fourth in the Big South.
• The team hit a season-best four home runs on Tuesday at Richmond. Longwood has had six multi-homer games this year, and the team hit a home run in four straight games from March 25-29.
•
Gregory Ryan, Jr. leads Longwood with eight home runs, which is tied for fifth in the Big South.
• Nine different players have homered for the Lancers: Ryan, Nelson, Dix,
Hayden Harris,
Dylan Wilkinson,
Luis DeLeon,
Drew Camp,
Drayven Kowalski and
Tanner Thomas.
• Longwood is tied for fourth in the Big South with 36 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 36-45 when attempting to steal.
•
Ethan Barnes leads the team with seven stolen bases, and he is 7-7 on the season.
• Thirteen different players have stolen a base for Longwood, and 11 players have stolen at least two.
• Longwood is tied for third in the Big South with six triples.
Quincy Sippio has hit two this season to lead the team.
• On the mound, Longwood has a pair of pitchers inside the top 10 in ERA in the Big South.
•
Andrew Potojecki leads the Big South with a 1.77 ERA. The righthander has not surrendered more than two earned runs in a single outing this season.
• Potojecki does not give out walks. He is seventh in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio: 10.67. Potojecki has not issued a walk in his past two outings, which spans 14.0 innings, coming against Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville.
• 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 32 strikeouts. He is tied for 10th in the Big South in K's and is tied for the league lead in strikeouts looking with 15.
•
Logan Berrier is ninth in the Big South with a 4.20 ERA, and he is tied for fifth in strikeouts looking with 10 in his 30 innings of work.
• Berrier has given up the third fewest runs among qualifying pitchers this season (14) in the Big South.
•
Andrew Melnyk has served as a strikeout artist out of the bullpen. The lefty is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning with 19 K's in 10.1 innings, and he and sports a 3.48 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 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.
•
Kevin Warunek was strong in his first two appearances out of the bullpen for Longwood this season. The lefthander tossed two scoreless innings while striking out two.
#GoWood #HorsePower
