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Tuesday's Starters
WFU: So., RH Drew Loepprich
HPU: Sr., RH Michael Hennessey

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team hosts Wake Forest at Williard Stadium in midweek action on Tuesday, May 10, at 6 p.m. The game is the return trip of a home and home series that started with an 8-3 Panther road loss in March.

The Series: The Panthers are 10-28 against the Demon Deacons since joining Div. I in 2000.
 
The Opponent: Wake Forest enters the week with a 28-19 overall record and an 11-13 mark in the ACC after dropping two of three games at Boston College over the weekend. The Demon Deacons took the first game by a score of 8-6 before dropping the next two, 9-8 in 10 innings and 4-3. The WFU offense is led by All-American candidate Will Craig, who is hitting .422 with 14 doubles, 13 home runs, 56 RBI and 40 runs scored. Gavin Sheets and Nate Mondou are also hitting over .300 on the season with Sheets hitting .327 and Mondou hitting .313. Stuart Fairchild is hitting .286 and leads the team with 13 stolen bases on 16 attempts.  Right-hander Drew Loepprich will start on the mound for the Demon Deacons on Tuesday. Loepprich is 2-1 in 14 appearances and 11 starts with a 4.58 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 55 innings. The right-hander started and pitched two innings in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Boston College. He gave up five runs on three hits and two walks while striking out one.
 
Last Time vs. Wake Forest: The Panthers dropped the first meeting between the two teams, 8-3, in Winston-Salem, N.C., on March 15. Sophomore Austen Zente went 3-4 in the game with two steals and an RBI while junior Drew Fopeano finished 2-3 at the plate with an RBI and a runs scored. 
 
Probable Starting Pitcher:
• Tuesday: Senior Michael Hennessey gets the start for the Panthers on Tuesday. It will be his 14th appearance and eighth start of the season. The right-handers is 3-3 with a 6.86 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 40-2/3 innings of work. Hennessey got the start against Davidson last week and struck out one in one innings of work.

HPU vs. the ACC: High Point is 22-64-1 in 86 games against teams currently in the ACC since joining Div. I in 2000. In addition to their 10-28 record against Wake Forest, the Panthers have seven wins against Duke, two wins and NC State and Virginia Tech 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).

Last Time Out: High Point swept Radford over the weekend with a 7-2 win on Friday, a 9-5 win on Saturday and a 7-0 win on Sunday. The Panthers hit five home runs in the three games, including two by senior Dominic Fazio on Senior Day on Sunday. Fazio finished 8-12 in the three games with a double, two RBI, five RBI and seven runs scored. Sophomore Hunter Lee went 4-8 with four RBI and junior Chris Clare went 5-12 with two doubles and five runs scored. Redshirt-senior Scot Hoffman got the win on Friday, pitching eight innings and allowing just two runs while striking out eight. Freshman Andrew Gottfried set a new career-high on Sunday with 7-2/3 shutout innings to earn his fifth win of the season. 

HPU Off To Best Start In Div. I History: At 29-17, High Point is off to its best start to a season since 1979 when the Panthers finished 38-15-1 and were NAIA National Runners-Up. HPU's previous high for wins at this point in the season in the Div. I era (2000-present) was 26 in 2014 when the team posted its best record in the Div. I era at 33-22.
 
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 46 games for the Panthers this season. After serving as a bench player for his first three years at HPU, Fazio is hitting .340 with a team-high 15 doubles, 29 walks and 34 RBI. He has recorded multiple hits in 16 games and reached base safely in all but five games. Fazio's 54 hits in 2016 is 23 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 .372 batting average, 67 hits and 36 runs scored. He also has 15 doubles, 22 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 14 attempts. Clare has 13 more hits than both Dominic Fazio and sophomore Carson Jackson, who are tied for second on the team with 54 hits.
 
Zente Running Wild: Austen Zente leads the Big South with 22 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 32nd nationally in stolen bases. As a team, High Point is second in the Big South with 74 steals on the team.  


Scrubb Among Nation's K/9 Leaders: Andre Scrubb is first in the Big South and 10th in the nation with 12.07 strikeouts per nine innings. He has struck out 80 in 59-2/3 innings. The junior right-hander has struck out at least eight in six of his last eight starts and is holding opponents to a .221 batting average on the season.
 
Gottfried Excelling In Freshman Campaign: Andrew Gottfried has been one of the top freshmen in the Big South this season, appearing in 11 games with eight starts and going 5-4 with a 2.83 ERA. He has held opponents to a .244 batting average and just seven doubles and one home run in 57-1/3 innings. 

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 224-218 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.
 
Mansfield Takes Three: Senior Tim Mansfield is third in the Big South with four triples on the season. He hit a triple in three consecutive games from March 4-8 with one in each of the Panthers' final two games against Dayton then one in the midweek season opener against La Salle. His fourth came against Elon on March 22.
 
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 Just Misses Cycle...Twice: Carson Jackson finished a hit shy of the cycle in two-straight games. The first baseman was a single shy in the series finale at UNC Asheville then was short a double in the midweek contest against Elon.
 
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.
 
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 hits the road for the final time in the 2016 regular season this weekend, travelling to Buies Creek, N.C., for a three-game weekend series at Campbell. The Panthers took two of three games from Campbell at Williard Stadium last season and are now 10-17 against the Camels in the Div. I era (2000-present).

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