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Thursday Starters
ASHE: Sr., RH Derek Smith
HPU: Sr., LH Jeremy Johnson

Friday Starters
ASHE: Fr., LH Greg Gasparro
HPU: Fr., RH Drew Daczkowski

Saturday Starters
ASHE: Sr., LH Spencer Ott
HPU: Fr., RH Trevor Holloway

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team hosts its third-straight Big South weekend series starting on Thursday, April 13 against the Bulldogs of UNC Asheville. The Panthers have won each of its first two home conference series this season and will go for a third against Asheville.
 
History vs. UNC Asheville: High Point is 34-21 against UCN Asheville in the Div. I era and has won 12 of the past 13 meetings between the two teams. The Bulldogs' last win in the series came in 2012 when Asheville swept a three-game set at Williard Stadium. HPU earned a road sweep at Asheville to open conference play last season, winning by scores of 8-0, 11-2 and 6-4. Junior Carson Jackson was named Big South Player of the Week after hitting .500 in the three games with a double, two triples, a home run, six RBI and four runs scored. 
 
The Opponent: UNC Asheville has struggled overall this season with a 13-19 record but the team has been competitive in conference play with a 4-5 record and a road series win over Presbyterian College. The pair of Danny Wilson and Joe Tietjen have been the bright spots at the plate for the Bulldogs. Wilson is hitting a team-best .297 with 25 RBI and 14 runs scored while Tietjen is hitting .281 with a team-best six home runs, 15 stolen bases, 22 RBI and 26 runs scored. Right-hander Derek Smith will make his first start of the season for the Bulldogs on Thursday. Smith has appeared in three games out of the pen and is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA and seven strikeouts in 5-1/3 innings. Left-handers Greg Gasparro and Spencer Orr will round out the Asheville weekend rotation. Gasparro has appeared in 11 games with six starts and the freshman is 2-2 with a 4.19 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 38-2/3 innings. Orr has been the Bulldogs' top starting pitcher this season, posting a 2.91 ERA in 46-1/3 innings. He is 1-3 on the season and has a team-high 42 strikeouts.

Probable Starting Pitchers:
• Thursday: Senior left-hander Jeremy Johnson will make his first collegiate start for the Panthers on Thursday. Johnson has appeared in nine games this season and is 1-1 with a 2.75 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 19-2/3 innings. Earlier this season, Johnson went a career-high 5-1/3 innings against Army, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out three.
 
• Friday: Freshman right-hander Drew Daczkowski will look to bounce back from a rough start on Friday against the Bulldogs. Daczkowski lasted just 4-plus innings against Campbell and surrendered four earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out six. He is 2-3 on the season with a 4.17 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 41 innings over eight starts.
 
• Saturday: Freshman right-hander Trevor Holloway rounds out the HPU weekend rotation, making his ninth start of the season on Saturday. Holloway pitched five innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits and three walks against Campbell last week. He is 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 41-1/3 innings this season.
 
Last Time Out: High Point went on the road to pickup a 5-3 win over inter-Triad rival Elon on Tuesday, evening the home-and-home season series at a game apiece. The Panthers outhit Elon, 12-4, and had five different players finish with multiple hits in the win. Junior Austen Zente went 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored while sophomore Conner Dunbar went 2-3 with two RBI for HPU. Junior Cooper Jeffers earned his first win of the season with 3-2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Jeffers gave up just two hits and two walks while striking out three.
 
Last Weekend: High Point claimed its second-straight Big South series, taking two of three games from Campbell at Williard Stadium last weekend. The Panthers won the first game by a score of 10-4 then bounced back from an 11-inning defeat on Saturday to clinch the series with a 9-7 win in the rubber game on Sunday. Junior Blake Schunk continued his hot hitting, going 5-11 in the series with two doubles, five RBI and four runs scored while both senior Josh Greene and junior Austen Zente went 5-12 with four runs scored. Sophomore Matt Hodges picked up two saves on the weekend after pitching five scoreless innings in which he allowed just one hit while striking out five over two appearances.

Schunk Surging: Since laying claiming to the starting third base position against Liberty, Blake Schunk has been one of the top hitters in the Big South. The junior has gone 27-64 (.422) over the past 17 games with nine doubles, 13 RBI and 13 runs scored. Against Gardner-Webb, Schunk went 8-12 with three doubles, four RBI and two runs scored.
 
Greene Reemerging: Senior Josh Greene has started each of the past 22 games and is hitting .310 (27-87) with four home runs, 15 RBI and 16 runs scored in those games. He has 10 extra-base hits this season while also leading the team with 15 stolen bases, second most in the Big South. He had a career-high three steals at North Carolina Central and two at North Carolina A&T.

Fireman Hodges: Sophomore left-hander Matt Hodges has become one of the Panthers' top relievers in his second year with the club, appearing in a league-high 16 games and posting a 5-1 record with three saves. Hodges is tied for the Big South lead in wins and is also tied for sixth in saves. The left-hander has a 3.10 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 29 innings of work this season.
 
Power Surge: High Point has shown much more pop at the plate this season with 29 home runs in 32 games, third in the Big South behind Gardner-Webb and Campbell. The Panthers are threatening the program Div. I record of 56 home runs set in 2010. Junior Austen Zente is tied for second in the Big South with seven home runs while junior Carson Jackson is tied for fifth in the conference with six home runs.
 
Start'em Young: The High Point pitching staff has relied on youth this season as underclassmen have pitched 222 of 285 innings (77.9 percent) for the Panthers in 2017. All but two of HPU's 32 games this season have been started by underclassmen including eight each by freshmen Trevor Holloway and Drew Daczkowski.
 
Up Next: The Panthers host UNCG at Williard Stadium on Tuesday, April 18, in midweek action. It is the first game between the two sides since their matchup in Greensboro, N.C., was cancelled due to weather on March 1. The contest was called after two innings with HPU in front, 1-0, on an RBI single by Carson Jackson.

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