On March 31, the Longwood men’s baseball team was an even 14-14 on the season.
They then went on to lose 10 games in a row over a three week stretch and tie a school baseball record (10) for most consecutive losses.
This past Saturday, the Lancers won the final two games of a three game tilt with VMI, picking up their first “W” in the month of April. All the while they solidified their fifth multiple game winning streak of the season on Saturday and snapped their losing streak in the process.
“I felt like a weight was lifted by winning this series,” said Longwood Head Baseball Coach Brian McCullough. “[Brandon] Vick and [Aaron] Myers pitched really well, and Scott Burkett came in late and slammed the door. Everyone contributed, and I think that is what got us back on track.”
Though the Lancers had their backs against the wall facing the possibility of the longest losing streak in Longwood history, McCullough stated that the topic was not on his mind.
“We didn’t think about it,” McCullough said referring to the losing streak. “It’s one of those things that kind of creeps up on you when you lose that many games.”
At this point the Lancers stand alone in tenth place in the Big South Conference and own a 6-12 conference record on the season.
Though they currently have a two game winning streak, they have their work cut out for them to make the conference tournament.
With three conference series left, McCullough says the Lancers need to take advantage of every game possible.
“Each series brings its own challenges,” said McCullough. “Our goal is to win two out of three every weekend, it doesn’t change; if we do that, I like our chances going forward.”
McCullough contributes a lot of this past weekend’s success to junior Brandon Delk who was 4-for-13 on the weekend, driving in five of the team’s ten runs and adding a towering home run off the VMI scoreboard.
“If he’s not there, we probably don’t score a lot of runs,” McCullough said. “Having him in the middle of the line-up is huge, because he is tough to pitch around and going forward, we definitely need him to continue this production. He is an up-tempo guy, and he always says he wants to be happy, which tends to rub off on other players.”
Junior Aaron Myers was dominant on the mound, totaling nine scoreless innings on the way to a save Friday and a win Saturday.
“Anytime you see a guy throw nine scoreless in a weekend, you don’t really expect that, but you expect your players to compete, and that’s what he did,” stated McCullough. “Aaron is a workhorse and having his arm on the team directly attributes to our success.”
McCullough is in his first year as the head baseball coach for Longwood, but it is clear he has learned quite a bit.
“The biggest thing I have learned is to not take anything for granted,” he said. “Each day has its own battles. You have to take advantage of all your opportunities.”
When asked what the team needed to do to be successful for the rest of the season, McCullough left the answer fairly simple.
“We have to play the game better. We have to play smarter baseball,” he said.
The Lancers will welcome North Carolina Central University to Farmville tonight, April 23. North Carolina Central is a team that bested the Lancers earlier this season 16-12. The Lancers then will be holding a three game stint with Presbyterian this weekend.
