Game Notes

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University baseball team wraps up a four-game road trip with a mid-week contest against Charlotte on Tuesday at 6 p.m. HPU has won six of seven, including a series victory at Gardner-Webb over the weekend.
 

Date	HPU Probable Pitcher	Charlotte Probable Pitcher	Live Video	Live Stats
Tuesday, Apr. 17 6 p.m.	RHP Muhammed Eid, So. (1-0, 5.00)	RHP Carson Pinkney, R-Jr. (1-2, 5.50)	Link	Link

History vs. Charlotte: The Panthers and 49ers have been frequent opponents since HPU turned Div. I. However, Tuesday's matchup constitutes the first meeting since Mar. 10, 2015, an 8-4 HPU triumph. High Point is 5-9 all-time in its visits to the Queen City, but has won two of the last three trips.

The two teams were scheduled to meet twice this season, but the first engagement was rained out on March 6.

The Opponent: The 49ers enter the matchup with an 18-17 mark on the regular season. Charlotte won two of three against #25 Louisiana Tech this weekend and are 3-1 in their last four after dropping their previous six games.

Harris Yett and Jackson Mims are the top two hitters in the Niners offense, batting .381 and .356, respectively. Both hitters have contributed six homers and 29 RBI a piece. Charlotte is hitting .294 as a team, good for 35th in the NCAA.

PROBABLE PITCHERS
• High Point: HPU will send sophomore Muhammed Eid to the hill in his second straight mid-week start. Last Tuesday against UNCG, Eid tied a career high with five innings pitched, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks.

Eid has logged five innings in each of the last two mid-week games against Elon and UNCG.

• Charlotte: The 49ers will go with righthander Carson Pinkney in his third start of the year. Pinkney started last Tuesday against Charleston Southern and pitched three innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits with five strikeouts.

About the Weekend: High Point rallied for its fifth straight Big South series victory, swiping both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday to take two of three from Gardner-Webb.

HPU saw its four-game winning streak come to an end Friday in a 4-2 loss that saw the Panthers leave 12 men on base. In Saturday's first game, High Point trailed 4-1 entering the ninth inning, but rallied for three runs to tie the game before getting a two-run homer from Carson Jackson to win 6-5 in 10 innings.

In the nightcap, the Panthers belted five home runs, one off a regular season program record, to roll to a 13-8 victory.

Bomb Squad: High Point's bats have found the power stroke recently, most recently blasting nine homers in three games over the weekend at Gardner-Webb Overall, the Panthers have hit a homer in a season-high eight straight games with 23 long balls in those contests.

HPU now leads the league and ranks 13th nationally in homers this year with 44, including 29 against the Big South in just 15 games. The Panthers started slow, hitting only three homers in the first 13 games, but have struck for 41 blasts in the last 22 contests.

High Point has surpassed its total from last year (43) and is 12 shy of the Div. I school record (56) set in 2010. The all-time record is 77 set by the 1975 squad.

Lean on Lee: Senior Hunter Lee enters Tuesday's game on a team season-best 27-game hitting streak, five games shy of the all-time school record and the second-longest streak in the nation this year (Jameson Hannah, Dallas Baptist, 34). During the stretch, Lee is 45-for-110 (.409) with 14 multi-hit games (eight of the last 11) and 28 RBI. The senior has proven to come through in the clutch with eight two-out RBI, six go-ahead RBI, and six game-winning RBI.

Lee has extended his hitting streak in his first plate appearance nine times, more than any other PA. Saturday's eighth-inning home run was just the third time in the streak Lee extended the streak in his fifth plate appearance. He has now pushed the streak via home run four times, including in game two Saturday.

Return of Zente: Senior Austen Zente missed four games from 3/10-16 after colliding with the wall in HPU's victory over Coastal Carolina on March 9. Since his return on March 17, Zente has been on fire, hitting .417 (30-for-72) with four doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 31 runs scored, and 17 RBI. Zente has hit safely in 17 of his last 18 games and scored at least one run in each game.

This year, Zente has scored a team-high 38 runs in 77 times on base, a 49.4% success rate. Since returning from injury, though, Zente has reached base 51 times in 18 games and scored a preposterous 31 times (60.7% success rate).

Going Streaking: Lee and Zente are not the only ones on extended hitting streaks in this recent offensive binge. Seniors Jordan Sergent (5 games) and Carson Jackson (6) and junior JJ Woodard (6) are all riding streaks of at least five games. Sergent and Woodard's stretch have matched career highs while Woodard is one off his career-best mark.

#SaturdaysAreForTheBombs: High Point's eight blasts on Saturday constituted the second straight Saturday accented by the long ball, as HPU hit six in a game at Charleston Southern. Saturdays have been kind to the Panthers this year as High Point has posted an 8-2 mark on the day.

Double-Dip Delight: The Panthers swept a doubleheader at Gardner-Webb on Saturday, the team's sixth twin-bill this season. High Point has grown accustomed to the doubleheader with an 8-4 mark in the occasions this year. HPU has swept three doubleheaders, including the last two, and has only been swept once with a pair of splits.

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. HPU has a team average of .304 in the last 32 games and has posted double-digit hits 24 times, including seven straight. The Panthers are tops in the league in batting average (.294) and are hitting .322 as a team against Big South foes.

Living Clean: One key to HPU's recent success has been its improved defense. The Panthers posted an errorless streak of 46 innings in four-plus games from Apr. 6-13. High Point is tied for third overall in the league with a .970 fielding percentage, but have made just 14 miscues in league play for a .975 mark.

Additionally, HPU's pitchers have piled up the double plays as the Panthers lead the league with 36 twin-killings, eight more than any other team in the circuit.

Wells Named Freshman of the Week: For the second time this season, freshman Tanner Wells was named the Big South Player of the Week on Monday. Wells hit .500 (8-16) with a double, two homers, four runs scored, and four RBI during HPU's four games against UNCG and Gardner-Webb. He also received the award for his play at the Environmental Staffing Chanticleer Classic on March 12.

He joins senior Austen Zente (Player of the Week, Apr. 9), senior Rion Murrah (Relief Pitcher of the Week, Apr. 2), freshman Travis Holt (Freshman of the Week, 3/26), senior Jordan Sergent (Player of the Week, 3/19), and junior Cooper Jeffers (Relief Pitcher of the Week, 3/12), as High Point's recipient of a weekly award in the last six weeks.

Up Next: HPU returns to the friendly confines of Williard Stadium for its penultimate Big South home series of the season against Liberty. The Panthers welcome the Flames, whom they hold a one-game lead against in the conference standings, on Friday at 6 p.m. before 1 p.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday.

#GoHPU