Game Notes | Live Video (Friday vs CCU - $)

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University baseball team visits Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C. for the first time since 2016 in the Environmental Staffing Chanticleer Classic. HPU will play two games against Ohio State and the host, #21 Coastal Carolina, over three days. This is the first neutral-site tournament for HPU since 2015.
 

Date	HPU Probable Pitcher	Opponent Probable Pitcher	Live Video	Live Stats
Friday, Mar. 9 11 a.m. vs. Ohio State	RHP Drew Daczkowski, So. (1-1, 3.14)	LHP Connor Curlis, Jr. (2-0, 2.70)	N/A	Link
Friday, Mar. 9 4 p.m. at #21 Coastal Carolina	LHP Jordan Sergent, Sr. (1-0, 3.60)	RHP Jason Bilous, Jr. (2-0, 3.45)	Link	Link
Saturday, Mar. 10 11 a.m. vs. Ohio State	RHP Andrew Gottfried, Jr. (0-2, 4.61)	RHP Yianni Pavlopoulos, Sr. (1-1, 2.84)	N/A	Link
Sunday, Mar. 11 3 p.m. at #21 Coastal Carolina	TBD	TBD	N/A	Link

History vs. Coastal Carolina: High Point and Coastal renew acquaintances for the first time since the Chants left the Big South following the 2016 season. CCU owns a 40-13 edge in the all-time series, most recently taking two of three in Conway in 2016 en route to the National Championship.

History vs. Ohio State: The Panthers and Buckeyes have never met since HPU moved to Div. I for the 2000 season. High Point is 6-3 all-time against members of the Big Ten, winning series against Penn State (2008) and Maryland (2016 and 2017).

The Buckeyes: Ohio State enters the tournament with a 7-4 mark after a winning weekend in Pensacola, Fla. The Buckeyes defeated Nicholls State and No. 16 Southern Miss before stumbling to Eastern Michigan on Sunday.

The Buckeyes were 22-34 (8-16 B1G) last year, but returned 12 of their 15 key pieces. So far this year, Ohio State is tops in the Big Ten in scoring (7.8 runs per game) and second in the league with a .304 batting average. Senior Noah McGowan leads OSU in most offensive categories and is 10th in the NCAA with 20 RBI.

The Chanticleers: Coastal Carolina entered the top 25 rankings for the first time this season following a 2-1 weekend at the Johnny Gardner Law Group Tournament. Serving as hosts, CCU bested Ball State and Radford while falling to Maryland. Coastal defeated Wake Forest, 19-3, on Wednesday to improve to 11-3.

The Chanticleers enter the tournament as one of the top offenses in the nation, ranking in the top 10 in doubles (4th), runs (5th), home runs (6th), and stolen bases (9th). CCU boasts a team average of .299 and is averaging 9.2 runs per game.

PROBABLE PITCHERS
• Friday vs OSU: Senior Jordan Sergent is scheduled to open the tournament for HPU after his best start of the season last week at William & Mary. The southpaw yielded just one run on three hits in a season-high 5.1 innings to earn his first victory.

The Buckeyes will counter with lefthander Connor Curlis, who is coming off a quality start (6.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) last Friday against Nicholls State. On the season, Curlis has allowed only five earned runs in 16.2 IP and lasted at least 5 IP in each start.

• Friday vs CCU: Sophomore Drew Daczkowski slots into the second game of the weekend against the Chants. The power arm has allowed only five hits in his first three starts, striking out at least six in each of his outings.  He battled command issues in his last start, walking five in a no-decision at W&M.
Coastal righthander Jason Bilous will get the ball on Friday afternoon. Bilous has racked up the strikeouts as well this year, punching out 19 in 15.2 innings of work. The righthander pitched two scoreless innings of relief against HPU as a freshman in 2016.

• Saturday vs OSU: Junior Andrew Gottfried toes the rubber for the Panthers on Saturday. Gottfried tied a career-high with eight K's in his last start and has struck out 22 in 13.2 IP this year. He has not allowed more than 3 ER in a game this year, but is 0-2 due to receiving only seven runs of support in three games.

Fifth-year senior Yianni Pavlopoulos starts for the Buckeyes in their second game of the weekend. Pavlopoulos has started twice this year, going 1-1 in those outings while most recently tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless relief on Sunday against Eastern Michigan.

• Sunday vs CCU: Neither the Panthers nor Chanticleers have announced a starter for the weekend finale.

About Last Weekend: A blustery weekend turned sour for HPU as the Panthers dropped two of three games to William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. High Point fell in 12 innings in the first game, 4-3, when the Tribe walked off on a dropped fly ball in left field to score the tying and winning runs with two outs. Panther pitchers combined to strike out 17 in the series opener, tying a school record in the process.

The Panthers responded nicely with a 17-3 thumping in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader. The 17 runs were a season-high for HPU and most since Apr. 19, 2016 (W 17-16 vs Elon).

High Point was unable to parlay the momentum, though, dropping the series finale, 13-2, on Sunday. Redshirt-junior Daniel Millwee led the offense with four hits with four other players collecting three knocks. Senior Austen Zente drove in four in game two of the set.

On the hill, junior Matt Hodges pitched 4.2 scoreless frames of relief in Saturday's opener while senior Jordan Sergent had the best start of his season, giving up just one run in 5.1 frames in game two, picking up the victory.

Let's Play Two!: Friday's twin-bill will mark the fourth straight weekend High Point will play a doubleheader to open its season. Weather has forced the Panthers to move at least one game in each weekend thus far. HPU was swept in a double-dip by JMU, took both games from Dayton, and split last Saturday with William & Mary with the first game last 12 innings

High Point played in five doubleheaders last season, going 5-5 with one sweep and three splits while only being swept once.

I'll Take This Thank You: The Panthers stole seven bases over the weekend, increasing their league-leading total to 20 on the season. HPU has more successful stolen bases than all but two teams have attempted this year. The Purple & White rank 25th in the NCAA with their 20 steals in 11 games. Senior Austen Zente is second in the league with six swipes followed by senior Carson Jackson, who is tied for fifth with four of his own steals.

Sit Down, Be Humble: Through 11 games, HPU's pitching staff has held its opponents to a .223 batting average, the best in the Big South by 22 points (Winthrop, .245). Panther pitchers have allowed the fewest amount of hits (80) and struck out 110 batters in 11 games, the second-best rate 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 second and third, respectively, in the Big South in strikeouts. Gottfried is among the nation's top 30 with 14.49 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Up Next: High Point returns home for a mid-week contest against Ohio University on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Panthers will then open up conference play with a three-game series against Longwood in Farmville, Va. next weekend.

HPU is in the middle of a 13-game stretch where 12 of the contests will be played away from Williard Stadium. The Panthers are 2-3 on the road thus far this year.

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