The First Pitch:
• Longwood plays its final road series of the season as it travels to Presbyterian College for a three-game test.
• The Lancers are 10-15 against the Blue Hose since joining the Big South in 2013. Neither side has swept a series against the other in that time frame.
• PC has won the series in the past six meetings, with Longwood taking the series in both 2013 and 2014.
• Last season, Presbyterian won the opening two games before the Lancers won the series finale 15-6 behind a four RBI day from
Gregory Ryan, Jr.
• This season, Longwood went 3-1 against in-state rival schools based in Richmond. The Lancers swept a home-and-home with Richmond and split with VCU.
• Longwood has crossed the 20-win threshold for a second straight season under head coach
Chad Oxendine. The team hadn't won 20 games in back-to-back seasons since 2015 and 2016.
• The Lancers are 6-20 on the road this season, but they have gone 4-6 in their last 10 road contests.
• Longwood has played five teams that were ranked in the top 25 at the time they met: Virginia, North Carolina, N.C. State, Campbell and Duke.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood wrapped up non-conference play with an 8-6 win over VCU on Tuesday night. The two teams split the season series, with each side protecting its home field.
• Both teams refused to give in during a back and forth contest, but the trio of
Gregory Ryan, Jr.,
Eliot Dix and
Drayven Kowalski led the charge on offense while the bullpen came up with big stops on the mound.
• Ryan, Dix and Kowalski each had three hits. Ryan had a team-best three RBI while Dix scored a trio of runs. Kowalski added a pair of runs scored.
• Ryan started the game with an exclamation point by clobbering a two-run home run to dead center in the first inning.
• VCU tied it in the fifth, but
Aidan Vanvickle came on in relief on the mound and escaped a bases-loaded jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
• Ryan and
Luis DeLeon drove in runs to retake the lead in the fifth, but VCU took a 6-5 lead in the seventh in response.
•
Drew Camp tied it up with an RBI groundout, and
Hayden Harris singled home Ryan for a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the seventh.
• Dix drove in an insurance run in the eighth.
•
Wyatt Bunch earned the win and
Logan Berrier got the save.
Around The Bases:
• Longwood was picked to finish sixth in the Big South Preseason Poll after finishing eighth in the final standings in 2022.
• The top four teams in the Big South advance to the Big South Tournament following the conclusion of the regular season. Currently, Longwood sits 4 games back of fourth with six games left to play.
• The Lancers have three games apieces against Presbyterian and Winthrop left, with both teams ahead of them in the standings.
• Longwood went 3-1 over four games combined against VCU and Richmond. It was the first time the team has done that in program history.
• The Lancers swept a season midweek series against Richmond and split a home and home with VCU.
• Longwood has played five teams that were ranked at the time of the matchup. The Lancers played against four ACC foes (Virginia, N.C. State, North Carolina, Duke) and Campbell.
• Longwood's top win this season came against Big South favorite and then No. 14 Campbell on April 15. Campbell has climbed into the top 10 since, but the win was the highest ranked win in Longwood history.
• The win over Campbell was the team's first over a team in the top 20 in its Division I history.
• Longwood last beat ranked teams in 2015 and 2016. The Lancers beat Coastal Carolina once in each of those seasons when the Chanticleers were ranked in the top 20.
• The Lancers have scored at least 10 runs nine times this season, and Longwood is 9-0 in those games.
• In each of Longwood's 20 wins, the team has scored at least five runs. The Lancers are 20-6 when scoring at least five runs.
• In addition, the Lancers are 14-3 when outhitting their opponents this season.
•
Gregory Ryan, Jr. has been a big part of the run production, with the redshirt-senior posting a team-best 54 RBI on the season.
• Ryan is in the top 10 in the Big South in RBI (3rd-54), triples (T1st-4), home runs (T8th-12), slugging percentage (6th-.634) and OPS (9th-1.019).
• The Lancer offense loves doubles and has hit 87, which is third in the league.
Eliot Dix leads the team with 13, which is tied for eighth in the Big South. Ryan has hit 12, and
Hayden Harris has 11.
• Longwood is second in the Big South in triples.
Gregory Ryan, Jr. has hit four, which is tied for first in the league, while
Quincy Sippio and
Luis DeLeon have each hit two.
• As a team, Longwood has had 34.9 percent of its base knocks go for extra bases. That number ranks third in the Big South behind only Campbell and Gardner-Webb.
• Dix is Longwood's hits leader with 61, and he sports a .343 batting average that is the top mark on the team. His batting average is the seventh-best mark in the Big South.
• Dix has had a team-best 20 multi-hit games, and Ryan is second with 14 multi-hit games. Dix has had two five-hit games for Longwood.
• Ryan leads the team with 15 multi-RBI games, and he is the only player with a five RBI game. He has done that twice.
• Longwood has hit 39 home runs as a team, which is seventh in the Big South.
• Ryan has a team-best 12 homers.
James Nelson,
Hayden Harris and Dix are second on the team with five homers.
• Longwood is fourth in the Big South with 72 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 72-87 on attempts.
•
Ethan Barnes leads the team and is 14-14 on stolen bases on the season.
• Ryan has been on fire recently with a .378 batting average (14-37) in his past 10 games. He has had seven extra-base hits and a team-best 14 RBI in that stretch.
•
Dominick D'Ercole has been one of the top arms out of Longwood's bullpen this season. He has one relief win and a team-best four saves across 16 appearances.
• Both
Ryan Miller and
Logan Berrier rank in the top 10 in the Big South in ERA. Miller is seventh at 4.73 and Berrier is right behind him in eighth at 4.80.
#GoWood #HorsePower
