LIVE STATS
GAME NOTES (PDF)
Tuesday Starters
HPU: So., RH
Kevin Bell
NC A&T: R-Jr., RH Josh Buttenfield
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team heads to nearby Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday, April 4, to take on North Carolina A&T in the first of two midweek contests for the Panthers this week.
History vs. North Carolina A&T: The Panthers are 20-11 in the HPU Div. I era against A&T and the two teams last met on April 8, 2015 when HPU picked up a 10-7 road win over the MEAC squad.
The Opponent: North Carolina A&T comes into the week with a 14-12 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the MEAC after sweeping Savannah State over the weekend. The Aggies are led at the plate by Myles Sowell who is hitting .420 with eight extra-base hits, 16 RBI and a team-high 26 runs scored. Adan Ordonez and AJ Hunt are A&T's two biggest run producers as Ordonez leads the team with 28 RBI and Hunt is second with 22 RBI. Right-hander Josh Bottenfield will start on the mound for NC A&T. Bottenfield is 3-3 with a 5.09 ERA over nine appearances and six starts. He has 21 strikeouts in 35-1/3 innings and has allowed opponents to hit .342 against him.
HPU vs. MEAC: High Point is 26-13 in the Div. I era against schools currently in the MEAC. The Panthers are 1-1 against the MEAC this season having split two games against NC Central this season.
Probable Starting Pitchers:
• Tuesday: Sophomore right-hander
Kevin Bell will make his first collegiate start on Tuesday for the Panthers. Bell has made two relief appearances this season and currently sports a 2.08 ERA with four strikeouts in 4-1/3 innings of work. In his most recent outing, the right-hander pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts against Elon at Williard Stadium.
Last Weekend: High Point claimed its first Big South series of the season, taking two of three games from Gardner-Webb at Williard Stadium. It was the first conference home series of the season for the Panthers after opening up Big South play at Liberty and Winthrop. High Point hit .359 as a team with four players hitting .444 or better in the three games. Junior
Austen Zente went 3-10 with two home runs, two walks, seven RBI and four runs scored and was named the Big South Player of the Week. Junior
Blake Schunk went 8-12 with three doubles and four RBI in the three games while junior
Carson Jackson went 7-12 with two doubles, a home run and four runs scored. Sophomore
Andrew Gottfried allowed four runs, three earned with a career-high eight strikeouts in 7-2/3 innings of work. Sophomore
Matt Hodges appeared in two games and picked up his league-high fifth win of the season in the series opener on Friday.
Zente Named Big South Player of the Week: Junior
Austen Zente was named the Big South Player of the Week on April 3 after hitting . 389 (7-18) in five games and led HPU with three home runs, 11 RBI and six runs scored. The junior also drew four walks and went 2-2 on stolen bases for the week. Zente is the first Panther to be named Big South Player of the Week since
Chris Clare received the honor on April 11 of last season.
Schunk Surging: Since claiming the starting job at third base job at Liberty,
Blake Schunk has been one of the top hitters in the Big South. The junior has hit gone 20-43 (.465) over the past 12 games with seven doubles, seven RBI and six runs scored. Against Gardner-Webb, Schunk went 8-12 with three doubles, four RBI and two runs scored.
Panther Bats Batter Runnin' Bulldogs: High Point had a season-high 19 hits in series-clinching win over Gardner-Webb on April 2. All nine Panther starters recorded at least one hit and six players had multiple hits, led by junior
Blake Schunk who went 4-4 with a three doubles, three RBI and a run scored. Junior
Spencer Brown went 3-5 with three RBI and a run scored while juniors
Austen Zente,
Carson Jackson and
Hunter Lee and sophomore Connor Dunbar all had two hits in the win. HPU's previous season high for hits was 18 in the win at Davidson on Feb. 21.
Greene Reemerging: Senior
Josh Greene has started each of the past 20 games and is hitting .299 (20-67) with three home runs, 12 RBI and 11 runs scored in those games. He has a team-high eight extra-base hits during that span, including three home runs which he hit in three-straight games for the Panthers. Greene is also second on the team with nine stolen bases after swiping a career-high three in the win at NC Central.
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 team-high 14 games and leading the Big South lead with five wins. The left-hander is 5-1 on the season with a 3.75 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 24 innings of work.
Power Surge: High Point has shown much more pop at the plate this season with 27 home runs in 27 games, third in the Big South behind Gardner-Webb and Campbell. The Panthers are on pace to surpass 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 189 of 238 innings (79.4 percent) for the Panthers in 2017. All but one of HPU's 27 games this season have been started by underclassmen including seven each by freshmen
Trevor Holloway and
Drew Daczkowski.
Long Ball Brings Down Owls: 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.
Daczkowski Named Big South Freshman of the Week: Freshman right-hander
Drew Daczkowski was named the Big South Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week on March 6. Daczkowski earned his first collegiate win with seven innings of work against Army on Saturday. The right-hander allowed just two earned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out a career-high seven. In three starts this season, Daczkowski is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 15-1/3 innings.
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: The Panthers host UNC Wilmington at Williard Stadium on Wednesday, April 5, at 6 p.m., in the second of two-straight midweek games for HPU. High Point is just 1-8 in nine meetings with the Seahawks in the Div. i era (2000-present). Last season, UNC Wilmington swept two games against the Panthers, winning by a score of 5-1 at Williard Stadium and by a score of 11-6 in Wilmington, N.C. High Point's only Div. I win against the Seahawks came in 2001 when HPU won at home by a score of 6-4.
#GoHPU