After a long offseason, it’s that time of year again — time for Longwood baseball. This will be Longwood’s first season in the perennially tough Big South Conference, a conference in which they were picked by conference coaches to finish last during pre- season voting.
“I think that we have a chance to surprise a lot of people. We are going to play Longwood baseball, be competitive inning-by- inning and pitch-by-pitch,” said 35th-year head coach Charles “Buddy” Bolding this week, who will retire at the end of the sea- son after starting the program in 1978.
“We are working hard in practice, we are all on board, and we know we are the underdog going in,” Bolding added.
Being in the Big South poses a whole new challenge for the Lancers, who finished 27-21 in 2012, their last season as a Division I Independent.
“We are ready for the challenge,” said assistant coach Brian McCullough. “Our guys are anxious to get out there and represent Longwood.”
Transitioning into the Big South is a move that will take experienced leadership to be successful. Luckily for the team, that is something that the Lancers have plenty of.
The Lancers will have four captains that were chosen by team members. Ryan Schubert, a junior, will be the pitching captain. Alex Owens and Scott Burkett, both juniors, will also be captains. Matt Dickason, a junior as well, will be the team’s head captain.
Their 2-5 hitters, the heart of the order, will be all upperclassmen. That portion of the lineup will feature Dickason, Burkett, Owens and senior Justin Lacy.
The pitching staff will be led by senior Kyler Morgan, who had the lowest ERA out of players who had at least ten starts last season.
Second in the rotation will be sophomore Brandon Vick, who is coming off a phenomenal freshman campaign and sported a 6-2 record with a 4.00 ERA.
“He had a great summer in the Coastal Plains League; his velocity has gone up. His location has gotten better and the movement on his pitches has gotten more consistent,” said McCullough, who expects big things from the sophomore pitcher.
“We are really counting on him to go out there after Kyler pitches a good game on [a given] Friday, and pitch a quality game on [a given] Saturday,” McCullough added.
Vick also carried a lot of the load last season as other pitchers struggled early on. McCullough went on to explain that this team is one of the most dynamic teams Longwood has seen in many years and the diversity and experience of this team should help them late in ballgames and on the road in tough situations.
“We have five or six guys in the middle of the line-up that can leave the yard. We have speed throughout the line-up, which is something Longwood typically doesn’t have. It might be a little different a style than what people are used to seeing, but I think it will benefit us in a good way,” he said.
Being in the Big South this season, the Lancers are going to need quality starts from the rotation and quality innings from their bull- pen. They might be shorthanded in terms of numbers, as they only have ten pitchers on their staff.
“We have never had great numbers of depth, but talent out- weighs depth a lot of times; that is a huge aspect of it,” said Bold- ing. McCullough is also optimistic that if all ten pitchers contribute and play well, that they will be very well off. “We have a lot of strike throwers in the back end of our staff. Ten is a small number, but there are a lot of opportunities for guys to step up and give us some quality innings.
“I think we all want a taste of the postseason this year, that is our common goal,” he said. The top eight teams at the end of the sea- son are invited to participate in the Big South tournament and that is something that the players and coaching staff definitely think is achievable.
“We feel like we are in the top eight in the Big South. We feel like if you play us in a one-on-one game, we have a chance to beat you on any given day with our line-up,” said McCullough. “We expect and are goal-driven to making it to the playoffs.”
The team opens its inaugural Big South season with a double-header against Saint Peter’s of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium.
Opening Day Projected Starters:
1 – Kyler Morgan
2 – Scott Burkett
3 – Justin Lacy
4 – Travis Biddix
5 – Alex Owens
6 – Matt Dickason
7 – Brandon Delk
8 – Colton Konvicka
9 – Kyri Washington
