ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The 2026 season came to an end for the Buccaneers on Friday evening in an elimination game of the Big South Championships. #4 Charleston Southern fell to #6 Longwood by a 10-4 final score at McCormick Field. The year comes to an end with the Bucs picking up back-to-back 30 win seasons for the first time in program history.
Longwood got out to an early 1-0 lead with a solo home run to centerfield from their leadoff batter. In the second, Charleston Southern responded with
Nathan Martinez punching a ball through the right side to score
Alex Marot and tie the game. Later in the inning, a passed ball allowing
Lucas Pringle to score and give CSU a 2-1 advantage.
In the fifth, the Lancers had a three-run homer to center to reclaim their lead. The next batter sent one over the fence in left center, pushing them ahead at 5-2. The Bucs'
Tyler Wright had an RBI single down the left field line, pulling them back within two.
In the sixth, there was a big rainstorm that forced the game into a rain delay which lasted for about an hour. During that frame, Longwood went on to score three runs and another two during the seventh, pulling ahead at 10-3.
In the eighth, Charleston Southern's Wright had an RBI single to score
Ethan Reader and cut into the deficit. The Bucs stranded 14 runners in total during the contest and gave themselves plenty of opportunities across the final four innings with them loading the bases twice and having two runners aboard in the other two frames but were unable to find the holes in the Lancer defense.
Wright led the team at the plate with his three hits while Martinez and Reader added two apiece to help them compile 10 as a squad. Wright had two RBI to pace the Bucs with Martinez adding one.
On the mound,
Aydan Smith had the start and threw the first 4.0 innings allowing just one earned run and two hits.
Hayden Henry worked the next 1.2 with
Christian Krause taking 0.1.
Corbin Payne worked a hitless and scoreless 2.0 innings and struck out four batters.
Tyler Henshaw had 0.1 and
Zach Stichweh had the final two outs.
In the top of the ninth, Head Coach
Karl Kuhn delivered class move by pulling each of the seniors in the ballgame and allowing an opportunity for them to receive a standing ovation from the team, their families and the fans in their final times representing the Buccaneers. This included
Blake Edgmon, Martinez,
Kain Collins, Henshaw and
Lucas Pringle.
The result ends the 2026 season for Charleston Southern with many of the student-athletes to begin preparing for their summer ball assignments and those seasons.
