Game Notes

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University baseball team wraps up a four-game homestand with a mid-week contest against intra-Triad rival Elon on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Williard Stadium. This is the first of two meetings between the sides, who are also scheduled to play in Elon on Apr. 24.
 

Date	HPU Probable Pitcher	Elon Probable Pitcher	Live Video	Live Stats
Tuesday, Apr. 3 6 p.m.	LHP Jordan Sergent, Sr. (1-1, 5.56)	LHP Owen Lorenz, So. (2-2, 6.31)	Link	Link

History vs. Elon: High Point and Elon have met 42 times on the diamond, including at least one matchup every year since HPU turned to Div. I for the 2000 season. The two teams split a  two games last with each winning on the other's home field.

HPU has won three of the last four matchups at Williard Stadium with the lone outlier being last year's contest. The Panthers have also won three of the last four games overall in the last two years.

The Phoenix: Elon enters Tuesday's action with a 16-12 mark after a solid weekend series victory over #30 College of Charleston this past weekend. The Phoenix entered Sunday's action on a season-long five-game winning streak before dropping the finale. HPU and Elon are #160 and #161, respectively, in the most-recent RPI release by the NCAA.

The Phoenix are hitting .275 as a team, led by four regulars hitting over .300. Ryan Ogren is the top hitter, batting .364 with six doubles, two homers, and a team-high 27 RBI. Cam Devanney paces Elon with four dingers and has also brought home 19 runs.

PROBABLE PITCHERS
• High Point: Senior Jordan Sergent returns to the bump, making his first mid-week start after being a part of the weekend rotation for the first six weeks. The southpaw last pitched on March 25 against Radford, allowing four runs on four hits in three-plus innings.

Sergent allowed three earned runs or fewer in his first five outings, but has failed to make it past the fourth in four of his six starts.

• Elon: Sophomore Owen Lorenz gets the ball for the Phoenix in his seventh start of the year and eighth overall appearance. Lorenz last pitched a week ago against Wake Forest, giving up a run on three hits in his lone inning of work as a starter. 

Lorenz began the season in the weekend rotation, but has made only one appearance out of the bullpen the last two weekends.

About Last Weekend: High Point won its third straight Big South series two games to one over Winthrop, taking the first two games, 6-1 and 12-0, before falling in the finale, 11-2.

HPU out-hit Winthrop 31-16, including holding the Eagles to five hits over the first two games. High Point did not allow an earned run in the first 19 innings (one run total) of the set en route to the series victory. 

Nearly a No-No: High Point came within one out of the first no-hitter in the program's Div. I history on Thursday against Winthrop before seeing it broken up with two outs in the top of the ninth. Senior Rion Murrah was the main reason why, tossing six scoreless out of the bullpen. The feat is not the longest in program history as HPU threw 9.1 no-hit innings against Charlotte on Feb. 3, 2007 before losing 2-0 in 10 innings.

Nothing For You: HPU followed up its one-hitter with its first shutout of the year on Friday against the Eagles. It was the first whitewash since a 1-0 victory over UNCG on April 18, 2017. The Panthers had three shutouts last year, including one against a Big South opponent (UNC Asheville, 7-0, Apr. 14).

Wild Weather = Wild Schedule: High Point had to alter its weekend schedule due to weather five times in its first six weekends entering the series against Winthrop. HPU now played five doubleheaders (one scheduled) and gone 6-4 in such occasions. Of HPU's first 11 home games, only one was played at the original time.

Murrah Claims Relief Pitcher of the Week: Thanks to his dominant relief outing on Thursday, senior Rion Murrah was named the Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week for Mar. 26 - Apr. 1. Murrah struck out nine in a career-high six innings including eight in a 10-batter stretch.

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 .293 in the last 24 games and has posted double-digit hits 17 times, including 12 of the last 17. The Panthers are tops in the league in batting average (.281) and tied for third in runs (176).

Lean on Lee: Senior Hunter Lee enters the weekend on a team season-best 19-game hitting streak. During the stretch, Lee is 31-for-78 (.397) with nine multi-hit games and 18 RBI. The senior has proven to come through in the clutch with five two-out RBI, five go-ahead RBI, and four game-winning RBI. 

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 .421 (16-for-38) with three doubles, a triple, three home runs, 17 runs scored, and nine RBI. Zente had hit safely in nine of his last 10 games. 

He is third on the team with a .441 OBP and currently paces the squad with 14 steals in 15 attempts.

Up Next: HPU will hit the road to begin a stretch of seven-of-eight away from Williard Stadium with a three-game series at Charleston Southern from April 6-8. First pitch on Friday is at 6 p.m. followed by a 3 p.m. start on Saturday and a 2 p.m. first pitch Sunday.

#GoHPU