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Friday Starters
HPU: So., RH Andrew Gottfried
LU: Sr., RH Caleb Evans

Saturday Starters
HPU: Fr., RH Drew Daczkowski
LU: Sr., RH Evan Mitchell

Sunday Starters
HPU: Fr., RH Trevor Holloway
LU: R-Jr., RH Jackson Bersch

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team opens conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Liberty starting on Friday, March 17. It is the first of two-straight road series for the Panthers to start the Big South slate.

The Series: High Point is 20-38 against Liberty in the Div. I era (2000-present). Last season, HPU went 1-3 against the Flames, losing two of three in the final weekend of the regular season and once in the conference tournament.

The Opponent: Liberty enters Big South play with a 9-6 overall record having won a weekend series against Bryant and three games in tournaments at Charleston, S.C., and Lexington, S.C. The Flames offense has struggled at times this season and is led by two-time Big South Player of the Week Sammy Taormina. The first baseman is hitting .362 with nine extra-base hits, eight RBI and a team-high 10 runs scored. Returning Big South Freshman of the Year DJ Artis is hitting .297 with eight RBI and eight runs scored. The LU pitching staff leads the Big South with a 3.40 ERA, just ahead of the Panthers. The Flames rotation is led by a pair of senior right-handers in Caleb Evans and Evan Mitchell. Evans is 2-2 in four starts this season with a 1.66 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 21-2/3 innings. Mitchell is 1-0 in three starts and has a 2.25 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 16 innings. Redshirt-junior right-hander Jackson Bertsch will start for Liberty on Sunday. He is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched.
 
Probable Starting Pitchers:
• Friday: Sophomore right-hander Andrew Gottfried will start on the mound for the Panthers in the series opener on Friday. Gottfried is 1-0 with a 0.53 ERA in three starts this season. The right-hander pitched six innings and allowed four unearned runs against Kennesaw State in his last start. He is first in the Big South in ERA and has allowed just six hits in 17 innings of work this season.
 
• Saturday: Freshman right-hander Drew Daczkowski will make his fifth start of the season on Saturday against Liberty. Daczkowski is 1-1 with a 2.18 ERA. The freshman ranks in the top-10 in the Big South in both ERA and opponent batting average. Against KSU last week, Daczkowski pitched 5-1/3 innings and allowed three runs, one earned, on three hits and a walk while striking out five.
 
• Sunday: Freshman right-hander Trevor Holloway rounds out the HPU rotation this weekend and will make his fifth start of the season. He is 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 19-2/3 innings this season. Holloway pitched a career-high six innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits while striking out three against Kennesaw State.
 
Last Time Out: High Point fell to Wake Forest at home during the midweek, 18-8. Senior Josh Greene tied his career high with four RBI and finished with a triple and a home run, his third in as many games. Junior Austen Zente went 2-4 with a triple and two runs scored while junior Zack Gray went 2-5 and hit his first home run of the season. Wake Forest hit five home runs in the game, including three by Ben Breazeale.

Last Weekend: High Point picked up a road series win over the weekend, taking two of three games at Kennesaw State. The Panthers won the first game by a score of 7-6 and then clinched the series with a 6-3 win in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader. Junior Hunter Lee hit .417 (5-12) in the series and had two home runs in the series finale, his first two of the season.

Greene Reemerging: Senior Josh Greene has started each of the past five games and is 7-21 (.333) with three home runs, eight RBI and four runs scored in those games. He has hit a home run in each of the Panthers last three games heading into the weekend.

Power Surge: High Point has shown much more pop at the plate this season with 19 home runs in 15 games, second in the Big South. The Panthers are on an early pace to hit 73 home runs which would blow away the program Div. I record of 56. Juniors Carson Jackson, Jordan Sergent and Austen Zente are all tied for second in the Big South with four home runs each while senior Josh Greene is just behind the trio with three.
 
Start'em Young: The High Point pitching staff has relied on youth this season as underclassmen have pitched 105 of 135 innings (77.8 percent) for the Panthers in 2017. All 14 of HPU's games have been started by underclassmen including four each by freshmen Trevor Holloway and Drew Daczkowski. All three of HPU weekend starters, sophomore Andrew Gottfried, Holloway and Daczkowski, rank among the top 10 in the Big South in opponent batting average and both Gottfried and Daczkowski rank among the top 10 in the conference in ERA.
 
Loving the Long Ball: High Point hit five home runs in the series against Kennesaw State, including four in the series finale. Senior Josh Greene and junior Hunter Lee both had two home runs on the weekend. In the final game at KSU, High Point led off four-straight innings with solo home runs as Lee hit one in both the second and fourth, Greene hit one in the third and junior Austen Zente had one in the fifth.
 
Carson Jackson Named National POW: Junior Carson Jackson was named one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week on Feb. 20 after helping to lead the Panthers to a weekend series win over NJIT. Jackson went 5-11 at the plate with three home runs, five RBI and five runs scored. He had two home runs in High Point's come-from-behind win on Sunday making him the 15th player in HPU's Div. I history to record a multi-HR game.
 
Panthers launch four HRs in series finale vs. NJIT: High Point hit four home runs in the come-from-behind win over NJIT on Sunday. It was the most home runs in a game by the Purple & White since 2010 and one shy of the Panthers' Div. I single-game record. Junior Carson Jackson had two home runs and juniors Jordan Sergent and Austen Zente both had one. All six High Point runs in the game came by way of the long ball, including two on Zente's home run in the eighth inning that put HPU in front.

Up Next: High Point is home during the midweek for its second game against Davidson this season on Tuesday, March 21. The Panthers beat Davidson, 12-11, in 10 innings earlier this season and are now 8-3 against the Wildcats in the Div. I era.

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