After a disappointing 15-2 loss in their home opener on Friday, Feb. 23 against Niagara, Longwood baseball head coach Ryan Mau challenged his team with a quick turnaround doubleheader coming the very next day.
“I thought we played very poorly in all facets of the game, and that isn’t us. We were all extremely disappointed in the showing, and we had a gut check moment as a team similar to the loss at Auburn, so we challenged the guys and they responded,” said Mau.
The Lancers answered the challenge on Saturday, Feb. 24, winning both games of the doubleheader against the Purple Eagles to take their first series win of the new season.
With scores of 8-7 in game one and 5-4 in game two, Longwood now rides a much needed wave of momentum after the tough 0-4 start to their campaign.
The series featured solid starting pitching in each game from the Lancers, setting up the team for success.
“Friday I thought (Steven) Farkas did a really good job. We also got really good starting performances from Michael Catlin and Cody Boydstun, and also had stronger bullpen performances by couple of guys,” said Mau. “Eric Harp, who is projected to be our closer, came in early on Saturday since we thought that was a pivotal moment to make sure we maintained the lead as Catlin ran out of gas."
Another pivotal performance out of the bullpen came from sophomore pitcher Tyler Morgan, who showed a short memory after giving up a home run on Friday. Morgan was called on to relieve junior pitcher Cody Boydstun after his stellar seven-inning effort to earn the win in game two.
Mau said he was impressed with Morgan’s ability to move on from Friday's performance and give the team what they needed on Saturday.
Offensively on Saturday, the Lancers bats were out in full force as the team scored a total of 13 runs on the day. After a disappointing Friday, Mau enjoyed seeing the team heat up at the plate the following day.
“We started to string quality at-bats together on Saturday all throughout our lineup, and we had several in an inning which led to a big inning for us, and the team feeds off of each other,” Mau said.
Both sophomore shortstop Antwaun Tucker and sophomore infielder Nate Blakeney went 4-for-8 to lead the team in hits on Saturday.
Blakeney has been on a tear to begin the season, batting a team-leading .409, while also leading the team with three runs batted in, nine hits, and 11 total bases. He also produced the walk-off hit on Saturday, sealing the game two victory for the Lancers.
“I’m really impressed with how far (Blakeney) has come since last season," said Mau. "As a Freshman, he got a ton of game experience and there were some bumps in the road, but there is a prime example of it paying dividends a lot sooner than maybe we all expected. He’s doing a great job.”
The 2-4 Lancers will have another opportunity to build on this past weekend’s successes, as they host UNC Central on Wednesday, Feb. 28, before heading off this weekend to Spartanburg, S.C. to take on USC Upstate in a weekend series.
