Game Notes

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University baseball team opens up conference play with a three-game series against Longwood in Farmville, Va. This is the third straight season in which High Point has opened up the Big South slate away from Williard Stadium. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 4 p.m. before the series wraps up on Sunday at 2 p.m.
 

Date	HPU Probable Pitcher	Longwood Probable Pitcher	Live Video	Live Stats
Friday, Mar. 16 4 p.m.	LHP Jordan Sergent, Sr. (1-0, 4.02)	LHP Steven Farkas, Jr. (0-3, 4.79)	N/A	Link
Saturday, Mar. 17 4 p.m.	RHP Andrew Gottfried, Jr. (1-2, 4.34)	RHP Cody Boydstun, Jr. (1-2, 5.55)	N/A	Link
Sunday, Mar. 18 2 p.m.	LHP Cooper Jeffers, Jr. (1-0, 4.50)	TBA	N/A	Link

History vs. Longwood: HPU is 12-7 all-time against the Lancers, but are making their first trek to Farmville since 2015. High Point is 7-1 all-time at Buddy Bolding Stadium, taking two of three in 2015 and sweeping the series in 2014.

The Panthers and Lancers did not meet last season and split four games against each other in 2016. HPU won two of three in the regular season but LU claimed a game in the conference tournament, 18-13. High Point has not dropped a series to Longwood since losing two of three in 2013.

The Lancers: Longwood comes in with a 5-10 mark on the campaign and have won a pair of home weekend series against Niagara and Iona. The Lancers were projected to finish 10th in the Big South preseason poll.

Longwood has struggled on the offensive end, ranking 9th in the league in average (.224) and runs per game (3.6) and last in hits (109). Additionally, LU is last in the league in team ERA (7.41). However, the Lancers pitching staff has found strikeouts to be their forte, ranking 19th in the NCAA in K/9 (10.4)

• Friday: High Point goes with a different weekend rotation for the first time this season with southpaw Jordan Sergent earning the Friday night nod. In his last two starts, Sergent has allowed only four earned runs in 11 innings (3.27 ERA) and is coming off a career high six strikeouts last Friday against Ohio State.

The Lancers will counter with Steven Farkas, who is coming off his best outing of the season. Last Friday against Iona, the southpaw went six scoreless and struck out 12 in a no-decision.

• Saturday: Senior Andrew Gottfried bumps up to the Saturday start in search of his second straight win. Last Saturday against Ohio State, Gottfried struck out the last five hitters he faced in his five-inning outing, striking out six overall in the 8-4 triumph.

Cody Boydstun gets the ball for the Lancers on Saturday after a complete game performance against Iona last week. In his first win of the year, Boydstun limited Iona to two runs on three his with six strikeouts in an 11-2 victory.

• Sunday: Junior Cooper Jeffers gets his first start of the year and 10th of his career following an award-winning relief appearance last week. Jeffers was named the Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week after throwing 4.1 scoreless innings in the comeback win over No. 21 Coastal Carolina on Sunday.

The Lancers have yet to announce a starter for Sunday.

The Last One: High Point dropped its mid-week contest to Ohio, 11-7, on a windy Wednesday afternoon. The Bobcats launched five home runs and used a pair of five-run innings to pick up the victory. Junior JJ Woodard and senior Jordan Sergent blasted their first home runs of the year.

For Openers: HPU looks to get back to its winning ways in conference play, where the Panthers have posted five straight campaigns above .500. Last season, High Point dropped two of three to begin the conference year at Liberty, the first time since 2013 that HPU was not victorious in its first conference series.

Crown 'Em: The Panthers claimed the Environmental Staffing Chanticleer Classic with a 3-1 record against Ohio State and #21 Coastal Carolina last weekend. HPU dropped the opening game to Ohio State (8-6) on Friday before rebounding with victories over the Chanticleers (8-5, 3-2) and the Buckeyes (8-4). All three wins for High Point were comeback triumphs.

Senior Hunter Lee led the offense with eight hits and collected the game-winning RBI's in both wins over Coastal. All five RBI's from the senior came in the eighth inning or later. Seniors Carson Jackson and Blake Schunk and freshman Tanner Wells all posted seven hits in the four games.

On the mound, HPU got great relief performances from freshman Jacob Kates, redshirt-junior Jonny Vizcaino, and junior Cooper Jeffers, among others. Kates gave up just one run in four innings on Friday against Ohio State, Vizcaino earned the victory Friday evening by allowing only one unearned run in 3.1 frames, and Jeffers capped off the weekend with 4.1 scoreless innings while picking up the win over Coastal Carolina.

Players of the Week: High Point earned its first weekly conference honors on Monday with junior Cooper Jeffers being named the Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week and freshman Tanner Wells garnering Freshman of the Week.

Jeffers coaxed a pair of double plays and picked off two runners in his 4.1 innings of scoreless relief against Coastal Carolina. Its the first honor of his career. Wells picked up one RBI in each of the four games, going 7-for-17 with his first career homer on Sunday against Coastal Carolina, tying the game in the fourth inning.

The Bats Awaken: After a slow start in the opening weekend against JMU (.182 team average), High Point's offense has clicked on all cylinders for the most part. HPU has a team average of .284 in the last 13 games and has posted double-digit hits nine times, including four of the last five. The Panthers are second in the league in batting average (.266) and third in runs per game (5.8).

Lean on Lee: Senior Hunter Lee enters the weekend on a team season-best eight-game hitting streak. During the stretch, Lee is 12-for-33 (.364) with four multi-hit games and 10 RBI. Last weekend, Lee collected five all RBI, all coming in the eighth inning or later with two being game-winning RBI.

Comeback Kings: High Point used three straight comebacks to post a 3-1 record last weekend. Overall, six of the Panthers eight wins have come in comeback fashion, including overcoming a pair of four-run deficits. Through 16 games, HPU has scored the first run in only two contests.

Let's Play Two!: Last Friday's twin-bill marked the fourth straight weekend High Point played a doubleheader to open its season. HPU was swept in a double-dip by JMU, took both games from Dayton, and has split the last two at William & Mary and against Ohio State/Coastal.

I'll Take This Thank You: The Panthers stole one base on Wednesday, increasing their season-long total to 22, the second-most in the league. The Purple & White rank 43rd in the NCAA with their 23 steals in 16 games. Senior Austen Zente is tied for fourth in the league with six swipes.

Sit Down, Be Humble: Through 16 games, HPU's pitching staff has held its opponents to a .242 batting average, the best in the Big South by three points (Campbell, .245). Panther pitchers have allowed the fewest amount of hits (128) and struck out 167 batters in 16 games, the third-most in the conference.

HPU tied a school record with 17 punchouts against W&M on Mar. 3, the most for any Big South staff in a single game this year. Panther pitchers have accounted for the two highest single-game strikeout totals in the league, having also K'd 15 vs JMU on Feb. 18.

Junior Andrew Gottfried and sophomore Drew Daczkowski enter the weekend fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Big South in strikeouts. Both are among the nation's top 35 in K/9 (Daczkowski, 26th & Gottfried, 33rd)

Up Next: High Point stays on the road for a mid-week contest against NC Central in Durham, N.C. next Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Panthers then host Radford next weekend in the Big South home opening series.

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