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Tuesday Starters
HPU: Sr., RH Mike Hennessey
WFU: Fr., RH Rayne Supple

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point hits the road for the first time since opening weekend on Tuesday, March 15, when the Panthers head to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on Wake Forest out of the ACC. High Point has won 12 of the past 13 games, including a weekend sweep of Rider.
 
The Series: HPU is 10-27 against the Demon Deacons following a split last season in which both teams won on their home field.
 
The Opponent: Wake Forest is 11-6 overall and 1-2 in the ACC so far in 2016. The Demon Deacons are coming off a weekend series at Clemson where WFU dropped the final two games after taking the opener on Friday. All-American Will Craig once again leads the Wake Forest offense this season. Craig is hitting a very impressive .458 with seven home runs, 26 RBI and 17 runs scored. He is tied for third in the nation in home runs and fifth in RBI.  Junior Jonathan Pryor has also enjoyed a strong start to the season, hitting .372 with 16 runs scored. Freshman right-hander Rayne Supple is scheduled to take the mound for WFU on Tuesday. Supple has appeared in six games with two starts and is 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA. He sports a .091 opponent batting average but has also walked 15 in seven innings.

HPU vs. the ACC: High Point is 22-62-1 in 85 games against teams currently in the ACC since joining Div. I in 2000. In addition to their 10-27 record against Wake Forest, the Panthers have seven wins against Duke, two wins against NC State and Virginia Teach and one win against North Carolina. HPU is winless in 10 games against Clemson (0-3), Florida State (0-2), Miami (0-3) and Virginia (0-2).
 
Probable Starting Pitcher:
•Tuesday: Senior Michael Hennessey is slated to make his third start for HPU on Tuesday. Hennessey has gone a career-long seven innings and struck out a career-high six in each of his two starts in 2016. Against La Salle last week, Hennessey threw seven shutout innings, allowing just five hits and a walk.
 
Last Time Out: High Point pushed its winning streak to five straight with a three-game sweep of Rider at Williard Stadium over the weekend. The Panthers won Friday's game by a score of 6-4 then took both games of a double header on Saturday by scores of 10-2 and 4-2. Junior Andre Scrubb struck out a season-high nine in six innings of work in the first game on Saturday while freshman Andrew Gottfried went a career-high seven innings and struck out a career-high six in the night cap. Junior Nick Capra his .571 (4-7) with two doubles and two RBI over the weekend and sophomore Austen Zente his .500 (5-10) with three doubles, a team-high four RBI and two runs scored. Zente also stole two bags, making him one of four different players to steal a bag in the series as HPU went 7-8 in steal attempts. 

Last Week: High Point swept its second midweek series of the season with two wins over La Salle at Williard Stadium. The Panthers won 5-1 in the first game and came back with a 4-0 win in the second, their second shutout in four games. Freshman Cooper Jeffers earned his first collegiate win on Tuesday after giving up just one unearned run in 5-1/3 innings of work. Senior right-hander Michael Hennessey then earned his second win in as many weeks with seven scoreless innings on Wednesday. Hennessey matched his career highs in both innings pitched and strikeouts, a high he had just set in the previous week. Junior Chris Clare recorded a hit in both games, going 3-7 with a walk and two runs scored. The Panthers stole five bags on Tuesday, including two by sophomore Carson Jackson.

Panthers Running Wild: High Point has stolen 36 bases through the first 16 games of the season, which ranks fifth in the nation behind only Eastern Michigan, Belmont, Louisville and Portland. The Panthers are on pace to break the HPU Div. I single-season record of 123 stolen bases set in 2010. Austin Zente stole seven bags in the series against Wright State and Dayton and is tied for the Big South lead with nine on the season. Juniors Chris Clare and sophomore Carson Jackson are right on Zente's heels with six and five stolen bases respectively.
 
HPU Pitching Rounding Into Form: After struggling on the mound to start the season, High Point has now gotten seven-straight outings of five or more innings and two or fewer earned runs allowed from its starting pitchers. The Panthers have posted two shutouts over the current stretch as Andre Scrubb went eight shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Dayton on March 5 and Michael Hennessey threw seven shutout innings in a 4-0 win over La Salle on Wednesday. The Panthers' team ERA has dropped from 5.29 on March 4 to 3.46.

Freshmen Planting Flag On Mound: Freshman pitchers Andrew Gottfried and Cooper Jeffers have both made a big impression in their first season with the Panthers, claiming spots in the HPU starting lineup. Gottfried joined the weekend rotation against Dayton and is 1-1 in two starts with a 1.50 ERA and nine strikeouts in 12 innings. Against Rider, the right-hander went a career-high seven innings and allowed just one earned run on two hits and a walk while striking out a career-high six. Jeffers has fared just as well in two midweek starts for HPU, going 1-0 with a 0.79 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 11-1/3 innings of work. The left-hander pitched six innings and struck out seven while giving up just two hits against Wright State in his first career start.
 
The Hitman Cometh: Senior Dominic Fazio has become a staple in the High Point lineup, starting all 16 games for the Panthers this season. After serving as a bench player for his first three years at HPU, Fazio is hitting a team-best .415 (22-53) with a team-high 12 walks, six doubles, and 16 RBI. He has recorded multiple hits in seven games and reached base safely in each of the first 15 games. Fazio is ranked in the top-10 in the Big South in batting average, hits, walks, doubles and on-base percentage.

Mansfield Takes Three: Senior Tim Mansfield is tied for eighth in the nation in triples after hitting one in three consecutive games from March 4-8. He hit a triple in each of the Panthers' final two games against Dayton then hit his third in the midweek season opener against La Salle.
 
Cozart Wins 200th Game: The Panthers' win over Wright State March 2 was the 200th win of head coach Craig Cozart's career.  He is now above .500 with a 205-204 record in his eight-year career as a head coach with all eight years taking place at HPU. Cozart holds the HPU Div. I record for career wins and has guided High Point to its five winningest seasons in the Div. I era. The Panthers had never finished at or above .500 prior to Cozart's arrival, but since he took over in 2009, the team has finished .500 or better four times, including each of the past three seasons.
 
Lee Setting The Table: Hunter Lee was the quintessential leadoff man for the Panthers in the series against Marist. He went 6-9 at the plate with six walks, two doubles and four runs scored. For the season, Lee is hitting .371 with a .453 on-base percentage.
 
HPU Receives Free Passes Against UNCG: The Panthers were walked 13 times in the series finale against UNCG, matching the HPU Div. I single-game record set against Charleston Southern in 2007. The team also had three batters hit in the game. In the sixth inning, High Point scored six runs on just two hits as four players were walked and another two batters were hit.
 
Lee Ties HPU Doubles Record: Sophomore Hunter Lee began the 2016 season with three doubles on opening day against UNCG. The sophomore hit doubles to right in the first, third and sixth innings while also drawing a walk in the fourth. Lee's three doubles tied a HPU Div. I single-game record that has been achieved five other times, last by former Panther first baseman Spencer Angelis in 2012.
 
Greene Tabbed as Big South Preseason Player Of The Year: After a spectacular sophomore campaign, outfielder Josh Greene was named the 2016 Big South Preseason Player of the Year. Greene received four first-place votes and 19 points to finish just ahead of Campbell's Cole Hallum. The junior outfielder is the first HPU player to be named Preseason Player of the Year. Greene is a two-time All-Big South honoree and last season he led the Panthers with a .355 batting average, 37 RBI, seven home runs, 13 steals, a .441 on-base percentage and a .532 slugging percentage. In 24 conference games in 2015, he finished in the league's Top 10 for batting (.395), runs (17) and RBI (23).
 
Goodman Named to Stopper of the Year Watch List: Redshirt-senior pitcher Joe Goodman has been named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List for the third time. Last season, Goodman returned from Tommy John and went 0-2 with a team-high six saves for the Panthers. The right-hander made 20 appearances for HPU and finished with a 1.86 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 19-1/3 innings pitched. Goodman allowed posted a whip under 1.00, allowing just 11 hits and eight walks in his 19-1/3 innings of work. He is one of 70 players named to the watch list and one of only four from the Big South. Goodman is the first HPU player to be named to the Stopper of the Year watch list.
 
The New Guys: High Point welcomes 13 newcomers to the squad this season. HPU has nine freshmen and three junior college transfers. Juniors Luke Parker and Nick Capra and freshmen Conner Dunbar, JJ Woodard, Nick Blomgren and Nick Niarchos are expected to contribute in the field. Freshmen Andrew Gottfried and Cooper Jeffers will compete for time on the mound for the Panthers.
 
Up Next: High Point opens Big South play with a three-game series at UNC Asheville beginning on Friday, March 18, at 6 p.m. The Panthers took two out of three games against Asheville last season and are now 31-21 against the Bulldogs in the Div. I era (2000-present.)

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