LIVE STATS
GAME NOTES (PDF)

Tuesday's Starters
HPU: Fr., LH Cooper Jeffers
Elon: Sr., RH Michael Elefante

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Coming off a road sweep of UNC Asheville over the weekend, the High Point University baseball team wraps up its five-game road swing on Tuesday, March 22, when it takes on inter-Triad Rival at 6 p.m., in Elon, N.C.
 
The Series: The Panthers are 15-22 against their inter-Triad rival since joining Div. I in 2000. Last season, Elon picked up a 6-5 win over HPU in Aiken, S.C., in the teams' only meeting.
 
The Opponent: Elon has struggled this season, carrying a 9-11 record into Tuesday's matchup. The Phoenix dropped two of three games at home to UNC Wilmington over the weekend in their first CAA series of 2016. Junior Kyle Jackson leads the team at the plate in his first season, hitting .378 with eight home runs, eight stolen bases, 28 RBI and 23 runs scored through the first 20 games of the season. Elon has slugged 21 home runs as a team with eight different players getting at least one this season. Right-hander Michael Elefante will get his first start on the mound for the Phoenix on Tuesday. Elefante has appeared in five games this season, pitching 4-1/3 total innings. He has a 3.86 ERA and has allowed seven hits and five walks while striking out six.

Probable Starting Pitcher:
•Tuesday: Freshman Cooper Jeffers will make his third start of 2016 for High Point on Tuesday. Jeffers has appeared in three games and is 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA in 14-1/3 innings pitched. He has struck out 12 and allowed 13 hits and four walks in his first three appearances. Jeffers came out of the pen last week against Wake Forest and allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks in three innings of work.
 
Last Time Out: High Point earned its second-straight weekend sweep with three wins at UNC Asheville in the Panthers' first conference series of 2016. Sophomore Carson Jackson hit .500 in the three games with a double, two triples and a home run. He led the team with six RBI and four runs scored in the three games. HPU put together three-straight well pitched games, allowing just six runs on the weekend and holding the Bulldogs to a .172 batting average. Redshirt-senior Scot Hoffman got the start on Friday and pitched 6-1/3 scoreless innings with a career-high eight strikeouts to get the win. Junior Andre Scrubb struck out a career-high 11 in 6-2/3 innings on Saturday to improve to 4-1 on the year and senior Tyler Britton came out of the pen to pitch five innings and strikeout a career-high seven on the way to the win on Sunday.
 
Last Week: The Panthers fell at Wake Forest on Tuesday by a score of 8-3 in their first road game since February 20. High Point jumped ahead with two runs in the first on a bases-loaded walk by junior Drew Fopeano and a single by Austen Zente. Wake Forest scored four times in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back home runs by Stuart Fairchild and Gavin Sheets to go ahead, 4-2. The Demon Deacons then scored twice in the second on a single and an error and a sacrifice fly and once in the fifth on an RBI groundout to extend its lead to 7-2. High Point got a run back in the sixth with an RBI single by junior Luke Parker, but Wake Forest answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning on a double steal to make the score 8-3. Senior Michael Hennessey dropped to 2-1 on the mound for High Point after giving up six runs, five earned, in three innings of work. The right-hander allowed six hits and a walk while striking out two. Zente recorded three hits and an RBI in the loss for the Panthers and stole two bases, giving him a team-high 11 on the season. Fopeano went 2-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored in his first collegiate start.
 
Jackson Named Big South Player Of The Week: Sophomore Carson Jackson earned his first Big South Player of the Week nod on March 21 after helping High Point grab a road sweep at UNC Asheville in its first conference series of the season. Jackson went 8-18 at the plate with a double, two triples and a home run as High Point went 3-1, including a three-game sweep on the road at UNC Asheville to open Big South play. He led the Panthers with six RBI and four runs scored and stole his sixth base of the season. He is the first HPU player to earn Big South Player of the Week honors since Dane McDermott on April 7, 2014.
 
Panthers Running Wild: High Point has stolen 49 bases through the first 20 games of the season, which is tied for first in the nation along with Xavier. 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 leads the Big South with 13 on the season, which ranks 10th nationally. Junior Chris Clare and sophomore Hunter Lee are right on Zente's heels with eight and seven stolen bases respectively.
 
HPU Pitching Rounding Into Form: After struggling on the mound to start the season, High Point has turned it around in March, posting a 2.59 team ERA and holding opponents to a .216 batting average. The Panthers have three shutouts in the month against Dayton, La Salle and UNC Asheville and have held opponents to two or fewer runs in seven of 14 games. Andre Scrubb in 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 20-2/3 innings over three starts in the month while Tyler Britton has pitched very well out of the pen with a 3-0 record and a 2.20 ERA in four appearances. The right-hander has 21 strikeouts in 16-1/3 innings of work.

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 three starts with a 2.81 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 16 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 20 games for the Panthers this season. After serving as a bench player for his first three years at HPU, Fazio is hitting .382 with a team-high 16 walks and 17 RBI. He has recorded multiple hits in eight games and reached base safely in all but one game this season.

Mansfield Takes Three: Senior Tim Mansfield is tied for ninth 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 208-205 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 .358 with a .438 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.
 
Up Next: High Point returns home this weekend for a three-game series against Winthrop beginning on Thursday, March 24. The Panthers took two of three games at Winthrop last season and are 16-31 against the Eagles since joining Div. I in 2000.