Box Score Box Score

The Liberty Flames loaded the bases in the ninth inning and scored a run on a pass ball but freshman Kyle Wigmore struck out Trey Wimmer to end the game and secure a 2-1 win for the High Point University baseball team in the Big South Conference Tournament. Wigmore earned his first career save and Drew Dades improved to 2-0 with the win.

“If that game doesn't fire you up you don't have a pulse,” said head coach Craig Cozart. “This team has great belief. Yesterday we continually answered offensively and tonight our pitching was outstanding. Liberty did a great job defensively, saving three or four runs tonight. Dades and Wigmore were outstanding out of the bullpen and won this game tonight. We are exactly where we want to be.”

Dades pitched four innings of relief, allowing just two hits and one unearned run. Dades got Nathan Thompson to look at strike three for the first out of the ninth inning before giving up a hit P.J. Jimenez and hitting Kenneth Negron with a pitch to put two runners on. Wigmore came out of the bullpen and hit pinch-hitter Austin Taylor to load the bases. Jimenez would come in to score on a wild pitch, making it a 2-1 game before Wigmore ended the inning with a liner to shortstop and the strikeout of Wimmer.

“That stuff is fun,” Wigmore said. “That is what you play for, to come up in big moments and come through for your team. I never lost faith that I could get it done.”

The game was scoreless through five innings with HPU finally pushing across a run in the top of the sixth. Matt Gantner reached base on a one-out single and moved to second on Max Fulginiti's two-out single through the right side. Kyle Mahoney loaded the bases, reaching on the team's 120th hit by pitch of the season. Murray White IV worked a 3-2 count from Liberty starter Shawn Tuefel before he was hit by a pitch to bring home a run and put HPU up 1-0.

The Panthers have now been hit by 122 pitches this season, a new Big South Conference record. They broke the team single-season record of 119 set by VMI in 2006.

HPU starter Jaime Schultz pitched 4-1/3 innings, allowing just three hits with three strikeouts before he came out of the game due to injury. Dades took the mound and allowed just two hits in four innings of work.

“That was a good, team win,” Dades said. “We grinded it out and Wigmore came in and finished it out when I ran out of gas. That second run was huge for us and tomorrow we will be ready for Coastal Carolina.”

HPU made it a 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth with an RBI-single off the bat of Mike Mercurio. White scored the eventual game-winning run after reaching on his second hit by pitch of the game.

Tuefel pitched 7-1/3 innings, allowing one run on eight hits with five strikeouts for the loss. He falls to 10-4 on the season.

High Point improves to 31-27 on the season and advances in the tournament to face Coastal Carolina Friday at 3 p.m. It is the second consecutive season that the Panthers have won two games in the conference tournament. Coastal Carolina earned the No. 1 seed with a 25-0 record in Big South games.