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GAME NOTES (PDF)

Thursday Game One Starters
LU: Jr., RH Evan Mitchell
HPU: R-Sr., RH Scot Hoffman

Thursday Game Two Starters
LU: Fr., RH Jack DeGroat
HPU: So., RH Carson Jackson

Friday Starters
LU: TBA
HPU: Jr., RH Andre Scrubb

HIGH POINT, N.C.-  The High Point University baseball team will wrap up the regular season with a three-game series against Liberty beginning with a doubleheader on Thursday, May 19, beginning at 3 p.m., in Williard Stadium.

The Series: The Panthers took three of four games from Liberty last season, winning two of three over the Flames in Lynchburg, Va., during the regular season and another in Boiling Springs, N.C., in the Big South Baseball Tournament. HPU is 19-35 against Liberty in the Div. I era (2000-present).
 
The Opponent: Liberty is 26-26 overall and 10-11 in Big South play entering the final weekend of the regular season. The Flames currently sit seventh on the projected bracket for the Big South Baseball Championship. Freshman D.J. Artis has started all 52 games for Liberty and leads the team with a .381 batting average, second in the Big South. He has scored a team-high 47 runs and stolen 22 bags for the Flames this season. Andrew Yacyk is the defending Big South Player of the Week and he enters the weekend with a .318 batting average and a team-high 45 RBI. Liberty has dealt with fluctuations in its lineup all season with only five players starting 40 or more games. Junior Evan Mitchell will open the weekend on the mound for the Flames. Mitchell is 2-4 with a 3.31 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched. Freshman Jack DeGroat will make his 10th start of the season in the second game. DeGroat is 3-3 with a 4.78 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 52-2/3 innings of work.
 
Probable Starting Pitchers:
• Thursday Game One: Redshirt-senior Scot Hoffman will make his 13th start of the season for the Panthers on Thursday. Hoffman suffered only his second loss in conference play last weekend after giving up four earned runs in six innings. The right-hander is now 4-2 in the Big South with a 2.68 ERA in conference games.
 
• Thursday Game Two: Sophomore Carson Jackson will make his first start of the season and the second start of his career when he takes the mound against Liberty in the second game of Thursday's doubleheader. The two-way player sports a 1.04 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 8-1/3 innings out of the pen this season but he has struggled with control, walking 12. Jackson set a new career-high against Winthrop, pitching 2-2/3 innings and matched his career high with four strikeouts while allowing two hits and three walks.
 
• Friday: Junior Andrew Scrubb will try to pick up his eighth win of the season for High Point on Friday. Scrubb suffered a tough luck loss against the Camels, giving up just three runs, two earned, with seven strikeouts in six innings. He is now 7-5 on the season with a 5.07 ERA and 87 strikeouts, second in the Big South.

Last Time Out: High Point took one of three games at Campbell over the weekend, dropping the first two games by identical 4-3 scoreless before bouncing back with an 11-1 win on Sunday. Redshirt-junior Tim Mansfield played very well for the Panthers, going 8-12 at the plate with a double, four RBI, three runs scored, four walks and a stolen base. High Point outhit the Camels in all three games but stranded 18 men on base in the two losses. Freshman Andrew Gottfried turned in a strong outing on the mound in the series finale, allowing just one earned run on five hits while striking out five in seven innings to earn his sixth win of the season.
 
Gottfried Named Big South Pitcher of the Week: Andrew Gottfried was named the conferences' Pitcher of the Week after earning his sixth win of the season with seven innings of one-run ball against Campbell on Sunday. The freshman right-hander allowed just five hits and no walks while striking out five. He leads High Point and is fifth in the Big South with a 2.66 ERA and is 10th in the conference with a .239 opponent batting average.

HPU On Pace For Best Record In Div. I History: At 30-20, High Point has matched its best record through 50 games in the Div. I era (2000-present). A win over Liberty on Thursday would allow the Panthers to match their best-ever regular season finish at 31-20, which the team accomplished in 2014 when HPU set a program Div. I record with 33 wins. 
 
Mansfield Closing Strong: Redshirt-junior Tim Mansfield is ending the 2016 season on a hot streak, hitting .481 (13-27) with five RBI, six runs scored and seven walks in eight games in May. Mansfield has reached base in every game in May and has multiple hits in three games, including the series finale at Campbell where he matched his career high with four hits to go along with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored.
 
The Hitman Cometh: Dominic Fazio set a new career-high with two home runs in the 7-0 win over Radford on May 8, making him the only High Point player with multiple home runs this season. Fazio has become a staple in the High Point lineup, starting all 50 games for the Panthers this season. After serving as a bench player for his first three years at HPU, Fazio is hitting .328 with a team-high 16 doubles, 29 walks and 38 RBI. He has recorded multiple hits in 17 games and reached base safely in all but seven games. Fazio's 57 hits in 2016 is 26 more than he had in his first three years combined.

Clare Leading The Way: Junior Chris Clare has emerged as the Panthers' top offensive performer this season. The shortstop leads the teams with a .364 batting average, 72 hits and 38 runs scored. He also has 15 doubles, 24 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts. Clare has 15 more hits than both Dominic Fazio and Carson Jackson, who are tied for second on the team with 54 hits.
 
Zente Running Wild: Austen Zente leads the Big South with 24 steals in his sophomore campaign, the most in a season by a Panther hitter since Nate Roberts stole 36 bags in 2010. He is tied for 30th nationally in stolen bases. As a team, High Point is third in the Big South with 79 steals. Four different HPU players have double-digit steals with Chris Clare and Hunter Lee having stolen 11 and Tim Mansfield having stolen 10.  

Scrubb Among Nation's K/9 Leaders: Andre Scrubb is first in the Big South and 12th in the nation with 11.92 strikeouts per nine innings. He has struck out 87 in 65-2/3 innings. The junior right-hander has more strikeouts than innings pitched in eight of his last nine starts, including three double-digit strikeouts games, and is holding opponents to a .230 batting average on the season.
 
Cozart Wins 200th Game: The Panthers' win over Wright State on March 2 was the 200th win of head coach Craig Cozart's career.  He is now 225-221 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.
 
Clare Named Big South Player of the Week: Junior Chris Clare was a key contributor to High Point's seventh-straight series win, as the junior finished 9-for-11 (.818) at the plate in four games with three runs scored and a pair of RBI. The infielder headlined his week with two 3-for-3 performances, including a perfect mark against No. 11 North Carolina on Tuesday. In the series win over Longwood, he finished 6-for-8 (.750) with three runs scored, two walks and a stolen base.

Weekend Rotation K Party: All three members of the Panthers' weekend rotation set or matched their career highs in strikeouts against Longwood. Scot Hoffman matched his career high with eight strikeouts on Friday, Andre Scrubb tied his career high with 11 strikeouts on Saturday and Andrew Gottfried set a new career high with seven strikeouts on Sunday.
 
HPU Pitching Enjoys Bounce Back March: After struggling on the mound to start the season, High Point turned it around in March, posting a 3.14 team ERA and holding opponents to a .226 batting average. The Panthers had three shutouts in the month against Dayton, La Salle and UNC Asheville and held opponents to two or fewer runs in 10 games.
 
Scrubb's March Madness: Andre Scrubb was dominant on the mound in March, going 4-0 with a 1.63 ERA in 27-2/3 innings. The right-hander held opponents to a .149 batting average while striking out 38 batters. He recorded two double-digit strikeout games, including a career-high 11 at UNC Asheville.
 
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 was the first HPU player to earn Big South Player of the Week honors since Dane McDermott on April 7, 2014.
 
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.
 
Up Next: High Point heads to the Big South Baseball Tournament in Lexington, S.C. The tournament will be played at the Lexington County Baseball Stadium and begins on Tuesday, March 24.
 
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