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DURHAM, N.C. – Sitting at 16-9 on the season, the North Carolina Central University baseball program has won seven straight contests and looks to extend that streak as the Eagles host the Lancers of Longwood University in non-conference doubleheader action on Tuesday afternoon beginning at 4:00 p.m. from the Durham Athletic Park.
 
NCCU (16-9, 8-4 MEAC) is coming off a series sweep of Florida A&M, the Eagles are one victory short of matching the program’s longest in the modern era which took place in the 2007 campaign.
 
Through 12 conference matchups, junior Carter Williamson (Roanoke, Va.) leads the maroon and gray at the plate with a .452 batting average going 14-for-31 at-the-dish.  Williamson tops the team with five doubles, while junior Spencer Franceschetti (Escalon, Calif.) has recorded 13 RBIs in league action.
 
Longwood (11-12, 3-3 Big South) dropped two of three to VMI over the weekend and is led at-the-dish by junior third baseman Alex Owens who is hitting .350 on the year with eight doubles, a triple, three home runs, and 18 RBIs.
 
As of last week’s NCAA statistics, the Eagles’ pitching staff had put up some impressive numbers as senior righty Glenn Frye (Lillington, N.C.) sat fifth in the nation in Strikeout-to-walk ratio, while the entire pitching staff was No. 12 in the nation in Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings at 2.26.  The maroon and gray pitching staff enters the week with a team ERA of 2.97 with 141 strikeouts and just 56 walks in 25 games played.
 
NCCU head baseball coach Jim Koerner will send Jordan Quinn (Goldsboro, N.C.) to the mound for game one for his sixth start of the year.  Quinn (4-0, 1.25 ERA) has worked 36.0 innings and has allowed only five earned runs this year with 21 strikeouts and 14 walks.  Long-time Longwood head coach Buddy Bolding will give lefty Joe Manion his fourth start of the year in game one.  Manion (1-2, 7.00 ERA) has thrown 18.0 innings in six previous appearances and has recorded 13 strikeouts and eight walks, while allowing 12 runs.
 
Senior righty Ruben Rios (Fortuna, Calif.) will get the nod in game two as he will battle freshman Blake Ream in the final matchup of the day scheduled for seven innings.  Rios (0-0, 2.79 ERA) makes his fourth appearance of the year, third start as he has tossed 9.2 innings this year with only three earned runs allowed with five strikeouts and three walks.  Ream (2-3, 5.61 ERA) has thrown 25.2 innings having surrendered 33 hits with 18 strikeouts and 15 walks.
 
These two programs have met 11 previous times with the Lancers owning a 9-2 edge in the series.

Tune in beginning at 3:45 p.m. as the Champps Pregame Show will hit the airwaves counting down to meeting No. 12 and 13 in the modern era between these two programs.  Play-by-play voice Chris Hooks will call all the live action of the doubleheader and fans can interact with him by following @NCCUAthletics on twitter and by using the hashtag #NCCUBaseball or by sending an e-mail to whooks@nccu.edu.
 
For more information about NCCU athletics, visit www.NCCUEaglePride.com or download the NCCU Sports Network app available in the App Store, Google Play and Amazon.