As the baseball season rounds past the All-Star break at each level, a group of Longwood University Lancers continues to chase its baseball dreams in the professional ranks, as noted in a Longwood Athletics press release July 18.

Former Longwood standouts Mark Montgomery, Michael Osinski, Kyri Washington and Aaron Myers carry on the legacy of 14 Lancer alums who made it to professional affiliated baseball, school officials cited.

They continued by noting that since his pro career began in late June 2017, Osinski has earned three promotions and at each level has proven his worth, particularly in 2018. After hitting .259 with 11 extra-base hits in 44 games in 2017, 2018 has seen Osinski hit .294 with 11 extra-base hits and 36 RBI in 59 games between both levels of full-season Single-A baseball.

Osinski has remained hot as of late by hitting .293 in his last 10 games with the Salem Red Sox, Boston’s Class A Advanced affiliate, the release stated on the morning of July 18. That stretch includes a span of four multi-hit games in five games played by Osinski, who is 12-for-41 with six runs scored and eight RBIs in his last 10. Just 14 games into his stay with the Salem Red Sox, who are located just two hours west from Farmville via US-460, Osinski has a .281 batting average and 11 RBI.

While Osinski’s advancement and success in the Red Sox system has been a bright spot, Washington’s season with Salem has been marred due to injury. A teammate of Osinski at Longwood in 2015 and now with Salem in 2018, Washington last played with Salem on May 7, appearing once more June 15 with Lowell on rehab assignment. Though he hasn’t been able to take the diamond alongside Osinski on the left half of the field, Washington remains a power threat in the minors with 22 career home runs and 113 RBIs in 182 games played.

Going into 2017 Washington was listed as one of Boston’s top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline after being named the Greenville Drive Player of the Year in 2016, but injury has held Washington to just 44 games over the past two seasons. Despite the two injuries, Washington, at just 24 years old, remains a high-potential prospect in the Red Sox organization.

Injury has also slowed Montgomery in 2018, who was off to a solid start in his first season in the Detroit system. Pitching with Triple-A Toledo, Montgomery continued to lower his career 2.34 ERA with a 1.98 ERA in 2018, striking out 17 batters in 13.2 innings before being placed on the 7-day disabled list May 29, but was activated July 3. Montgomery did not return to action for Toledo and was released July 9. Montgomery had not signed with another team as of July 17.

A 27-year-old and 11th-round pick of the New York Yankees in 2011, Montgomery is on his third organization after signing a minor league contract with St. Louis in 2017 and joining the Tigers organization in 2018. The hard-throwing right-handed relief pitcher has pitched as a part of runs to the Triple-A National Championship each of the past two seasons, earning a ring with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Yankees system in 2016.

Longwood’s other standout pitcher, the man who broke Montgomery’s record for saves in a season by a Lancer, Myers has made 50 appearances in his three seasons as a professional with a 2.62 ERA and 117 career strikeouts in 103.0 innings. Myers began his career in Milwaukee’s organization after signing as a free agent in 2015 and was traded to the Orioles system in 2017 but was released by the organization in January. Myers had not signed with an affiliated club as of July 17.

Osinski, Washington, Montgomery and Myers each showed great promise in their time at Longwood and continue to thrive as they conquer professional baseball.