Game Notes

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University baseball team hosts the Liberty Flames for a crucial three-game series this weekend at Williard Stadium. HPU sits one game out of first place and one game ahead of the third-place Flames through five Big South series. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with 1 p.m. starts Saturday and Sunday.

HPU has won six of its last eight games and has yet to drop a conference set. Liberty has won eight of 10 and saw its five-game winning streak snapped Wednesday at Virginia.
 

Date	HPU Probable Pitcher	Liberty Probable Pitcher	Live Video	Live Stats
Friday, Apr. 20 6 p.m.	RHP Andrew Gottfried, Jr. (4-3, 2.90)	RHP Garret Price, So. (5-2, 2.08)	Link	Link
Saturday, Apr. 21 1 p.m.	RHP Joe Johnson, So. (1-0, 6.08)	RHP Noah Skirrow, Fr. (3-2, 5.02)	Link	Link
Sunday, Apr. 22 1 p.m.	TBA	TBA	Link	Link

  
History vs. Liberty: High Point and Liberty have met 61 times, the most for any Big South opponent against the Panthers since HPU moved to Div. I for the 2000 campaign. The recent history has not been kind to the Panthers as HPU has dropped five of the last six, including two of three each of the last two years.

The Panthers are 9-15 all-time at home against the Flames, last winning a home set in 2013.

The Opponent: Liberty is on a roll as of late, vaulting to third in the Big South following a sweep of Charleston Southern last week. The Flames are fifth in the league in hitting (.258) and third in ERA (5.01), but have found the offensive stroke in league play with a .284 average.

Tre Todd is the reigning Big South Player of the Week and is tops on the team with a .336 average. He paces the league with a.518 OBP and is second in slugging percentage (.638).

• Friday: The Panthers will strut out their ace, Andrew Gottfried, in the series opener. Gottfried enters the start as the league leader in ERA for conference games at 2.03. He is fifth in the loop in opposing average (.217) and sixth in strikeouts (53).

Garret Price, the league's overall ERA leader, makes just his third start of the year for the Flames. Price has started the last two weekends and yielded one run on six hits in 14 innings. Price paces the league in opponents average (.184) this year.

• Saturday: After a sterling first career start, Joe Johnson earns his second start on Saturday. Johnson gave up only one earned run in seven innings at Gardner-Webb last week, nearly slicing his season-long ERA in half, down from 11.37 to 6.08.

Freshman Noah Skirrow gets the ball for Liberty looking to extend a two-game win streak. Skirrow tossed six scoreless frames with eight strikeouts last Saturday, a week after giving up only two earned runs in 5.1 frames against Campbell on 4/8.

• Sunday: Neither High Point or Liberty have announced a starter for Sunday's showdown at the time of publication.

About the Last One: HPU fell in its mid-week contest at Charlotte, 5-2, marking just the third time in the last 21 games that the Panthers failed to score at least four runs. High Point is now 2-6 in its mid-week contests this season.

Surviving In The Springs: 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  in the last six weeks, most recently blasting nine homers in three games over the weekend at Gardner-Webb. The Panthers saw their streak of eight straight games with a home run snapped on Tuesday, having belted 23 dingers in those eight games.

HPU now leads the league and ranks 16th 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 23 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 the weekend on a team season-best 28-game hitting streak, four games shy of  tying the all-time school record and the second-longest streak in the nation this year (Jameson Hannah, Dallas Baptist, 35). During the stretch, Lee is 47-for-113 (.416) with 15 multi-hit games (nine of the last 12) 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 10 times, more than any other PA. Last 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.

It Starts At The Top: Senior Austen Zente missed four games from 3/10-16 after colliding with the wall in HPU's victory over Coastal Carolina on 3/9. Since his return on March 17, Zente has been on fire, hitting .408 (31-for-76) with four doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 31 runs scored, and 17 RBI. Zente has hit safely in 18 of his last 19 games and had scored at least one run in each game prior to not touching home in Tuesday's loss at Charlotte

This year, Zente has scored a team-high 38 runs in 78 times on base, a 48.7% success rate. Since returning from injury, though, Zente has reached base 52 times in 19 games and scored a preposterous 31 times (59.6% success rate).

Going Streaking: Lee and Zente are not the only ones on extended hitting streaks in this recent offensive binge. Seniors Jordan Sergent (6 games) and Carson Jackson (7) and freshman Tanner Wells (5) are all riding streaks of at least five games. Sergent has matched his career high while Wells is one off his career-best mark.

Best Start Ever: High Point is the only team in the Big South to not drop a series thus far this year, winning all five series with one sweep (at Charleston Southern). As a result, HPU is off to its best conference start every at 11-4. The previous mark was 10-5 in 2006. The 2014 team holds the school record with 18 league wins.

#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 .302 in the last 33 games and has posted double-digit hits 24 times, including seven of the last eight. The Panthers are tops in the league in batting average (.293) and are hitting .322 as a team against Big South foes, 28 points higher than the second-place team.

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 second overall in the league with a .971 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 37 twin-killings, seven 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: For the first time this season, High Point will play a pair of mid-week contests, both against Triad rivals. The Panthers visit Elon on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before welcoming North Carolina A&T on Wednesday at 6 p.m. HPU is then off next weekend to focus on final exams.

#GoHPU