The First Pitch:
• Longwood closes the regular season with a three-game homestand against Winthrop.
• The Lancers are 7-19 against Winthrop since joining the Big South.
• The two teams last played in 2021, when they played a total of six times during to an expanded conference slate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Longwood won two of the six games, with three of the four losses decided by three runs or less.
• Longwood won a road series at Presbyterian for the first time ever, and it was the first series win since 2014 against the Blue Hose.
• 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.
•
Gregory Ryan, Jr. and Guillermo Garcia, Jr. both earned Big South Player/Starting Pitcher of the Week honors.
• Ryan led the team with 11 RBI on the week as the Lancers went 3-1. The redshirt-senior batted .400 (8-20) with two homers, a double and a triple.
• Garcia started a pair of games as he transitioned to a weekend starting role after coming out of the bullpen. He tossed 6.0 shutout innings against Presbyterian with 7 strikeouts, and he also had a 1.0 inning scoreless start against VCU with 1 K.
Last Series Notes:
• Longwood took two of three from Presbyterian for the road series win to climb into a tie for seventh in the Big South standings.
• The Lancers scored 12 runs in each of their wins, with grand slams from
Eliot Dix and
Gregory Ryan, Jr. the highlights on offense.
• Dix clobbered his grand slam in the series opener as the Lancers ran away with the game in a 12-2 win.
• After Presbyterian took the middle game 4-2 to even the series despite six scoreless innings from Guillermo Garcia, Jr., Longwood responded in the series finale.
• The Lancers erased a 3-0 hole behind a monster performance from
Gregory Ryan, Jr. and the top of the Lancer lineup.
• Ryan drove in seven runs, one shy of the team record of 8 RBI set in 1989, and he was a double short of the cycle while going 4-5 at the plate.
• Dix drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth for a 7-6 lead, and Ryan cranked his grand slam to right-center one batter later.
• Ryan and DeLeon hit back-to-back homers, as DeLeon added a solo home run to left after Ryan's grand slam.
•
Dominick D'Ercole earned the relief win for Longwood.
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 three games back with three to play.
• The Lancers take on Winthrop, who sits ahead of them in the standings.
• Depending on in-conference results, there could be as many as five teams tied for the fourth and final spot in the standings.
• The Lancers took two of three from Presbyterian over the weekend for their first series win in Clinton and first series win at all over PC since 2014.
• It was Longwood's first road series win of 2023.
• The Lancers scored a dozen runs in each of their two wins, and Longwood is a perfect 11-0 when scoring 10 or more runs this season.
• In each of Longwood's 22 wins, the team has scored at least five runs. The Lancers are 22-6 when scoring at least five runs.
• In addition, the Lancers are 16-3 when outhitting their opponents this season.
•
Gregory Ryan, Jr. has been a big part of the run production, with the redshirt-senior posting a Big South best 62 RBI on the season.
• Ryan ranks 34th in the nation in RBI, and he is the only player in the Big South with at least 60.
• His 7 RBI on Sunday, May 14 were one shy of the program record of 8 in a single game, set by Mark Moeller in 1989.
• Ryan is in the top 10 in the Big South five categories: RBI (1st-62), triples (1st-5), home runs (T6th-13), slugging percentage (6th-.642) and OPS (8th-1.026).
• The Lancer offense loves doubles and has hit 91, which is fourth in the league.
Eliot Dix and Ryan lead the team with 13, which is tied for ninth in the Big South.
Hayden Harris has 11, and
Luis DeLeon has hit 10.
• Longwood is second in the Big South in triples (14).
Gregory Ryan, Jr. has hit five, which is first in the league, while
Quincy Sippio and
Luis DeLeon have each hit two.
• As a team, Longwood has had 33.9 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 67, and he sports a .353 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 22 multi-hit games, and Ryan is second with 15 multi-hit games. Dix has had two five-hit games for Longwood.
• Ryan leads the team with 16 multi-RBI games, and he is the only player with a five RBI game. He has done that three times.
• Longwood has hit 42 home runs as a team, which is seventh in the Big South.
• Ryan has a team-best 13 homers. Dix is second on the team with six, and
James Nelson and
Hayden Harris each have five homers.
• Longwood is fifth in the Big South with 75 stolen bases, and the Lancers are 75-90 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 .375 batting average (15-40) in his past 10 games. He has had seven extra-base hits and a team-best 17 RBI in that stretch.
•
Dominick D'Ercole has been one of the top arms out of Longwood's bullpen this season. He has two relief wins and a team-best four saves across 19 appearances. His four saves are tied for fifth in the Big South.
•
Ryan Miller ranks in the top 10 in the Big South in ERA. Miller is fifth at 4.25.
• 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.
#GoWood #HorsePower
