Championship Notes | Championship Central

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University baseball team will play for its first Big South Baseball Championship Saturday morning at 11 a.m. against top-seeded Campbell. The Winner-Take-All matchup will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
 

Date	HPU Probable Pitcher	Campbell Probable Pitcher	Live Video	Live Stats
Saturday, May 26 11:00 a.m.	RHP Muhammed Eid, So.	RHP Allan Winans, Sr.	Link (ESPNU)	Link

  
History in the Big South Baseball Championship: High Point is in search of its first-ever Big South title and first appearance in the Big South Championship Game. The Panthers are 17-28 all-time in the tournament, most recently going 1-2 in last year's edition, held in Lexington, S.C.

HPU is 7-8 in its first game of the tournament, including a 3-4 mark as the higher seed. The Panthers were the No. 2 seed in 2016 and went 1-2, falling to No. 6 Liberty in the first round and No. 3 Longwood after defeating No. 6 Winthrop. HPU is aiming to win multiple games in the tournament for the first time since the 2015 season when the No. 5 seeded Panthers went 2-2.

The Field: High Point will square off with No. 7 Charleston Southern, a team that they swept on the road in early April. The Panthers outscored the Buccaneers 20-7 in the series behind nine home runs, including six in the middle game of the set. The two sides have not met in the Big South Baseball Championship since 2009. CSU holds a 2-1 edge in postseason games.

The Panthers are on the same side of the bracket as No. 3 Liberty and No. 6 Radford, their two most common opponents in postseason play. HPU is 4-6 in 10 tournament matchups with the Flames and 4-2 against the Highlanders. This year, High Point dropped two of three to Liberty and won two of three against Radford.

A New Standard: High Point established a new program record with its 19th Big South win on Saturday against Presbyterian, besting the 2014 team (18-9). HPU won its final six conference games to accomplish the feat, sweeping both UNC Asheville and Presbyterian.

30 for 30: The win in Saturday's doubleheader opener was High Point's 30th of the campaign, marking the third straight year of at least 30 wins. The Panthers have now won 30-plus games in four of the last five years and five times under head coach Craig Cozart, after zero 30-win seasons in 19 years from 1990-2008. HPU is two wins shy of tying the program's Div. I record of 33 wins set by the 2014 team.

Inside The Numbers: HPU possesses the Big South's highest RPI at 112 as of Monday's report. The solid rating has been buoyed by a 3-2 mark against top-50 RPI teams (Coastal Carolina x2, Ohio State) with the rest of the league combining to post a 6-50 record against such teams. The Panthers were the only team in the Big South with a winning road (16-11) and home record (14-9). In addition, HPU held the best winning percentage in the circuit, finishing with two fewer losses than No. 1 seed Campbell.

The Key Was Consistency: High Point won seven of its nine conference series this year with three sweeps, including the last two weekends. The Panthers were 5-4 in series openers and 5-4 in series finales, but a perfect 9-0 in middle games. As a result, HPU never entered the final game of a series with a potential to get swept and went 2-2 in rubber games.

Senior Night Send-Off: HPU ended its season in style as senior Jordan Sergent belted a walk-off home run in the last of the 10th inning in Saturday's finale against Presbyterian. It was the first walk-off home run for High Point in over 10 years, when then-senior Randy Schwartz hit a walk-off dinger in his final at-bat of his senior day on May 13, 2008. It was also the first walk-off since Hunter Lee's game-ending single against Dayton on Mar. 4, 2016 during his sophomore year.

Top Staff in the League: The Panthers' pitching staff capped off a strong year with back-to-back shutouts in the first two games against Presbyterian. It marked the first time in program history that HPU pitched consecutive shutouts against a Big South team.

Overall, HPU finished the regular season with a 4.30 ERA, tops in the Big South by 0.29 over second-place Campbell. High Point also led the league in fewest hits (418), runs (270), and earned runs (221) allowed, while placing second in opponents batting average (.244). HPU held a 3.51 ERA against conference foes, second in the league to Campbell.

Top Offense in the League: Not to be outdone, High Point's offense paced the circuit in average (.285), slugging percentage (.432), hits (519), home runs (53), and total bases (787) despite playing the second-fewest games in the Big South (52). The numbers were even better in conference play as the Panthers were the only team to hold a team average over .300 inside the league at .304. HPU was top-three in nearly every offensive category against league competition.

It Starts At The Top: Since missing four games and returning from injury on March 17, senior Austen Zente has been on fire, hitting .355 (49-for-138) with six doubles, a triple, 12 home runs, 46 runs scored, and 33 RBI in 35 games. This year, Zente has scored a team-high 53 runs in 113 times on base, a 46.9% success rate. Since returning from injury, though, Zente has reached base 87 times in 35 games and scored a preposterous 46 times (52.9% success rate). Against conference foes, Zente is third with a .388 average while leading the league in slugging (.738), on-base percentage (.512), home runs (10), total bases (76), and steals (13).

Among The Best: Senior Carson Jackson laced an RBI double in the second inning on May 12 at Asheville, breaking the all-time school record with his 53rd two-bagger (he has since tallied three more doubles for 56 total). In addition to his school-record total, Jackson ranks among HPU's top 10 in at-bats (2nd), games played (3rd), hits (3rd), RBI (3rd), runs (5th), and home runs (10th).

Lean on Lee: Senior Hunter Lee, who earlier this season posted the second-longest hitting streak in school history at 28 games, has continued to be a thorn in opposing pitchers' side. Lee posted a 37-game on-base streak that ended on May 11, but has successfully reached base in 50 of 52 games this season. A patient approach netted Lee the school's all-time walk record which he broke last Tuesday at Wake Forest. He is also sixth all-time in at-bats and eighth in hits.

#KeepHittingAusten: Senior Austen Zente has been beaned 26 times this year, the second-most in the NCAA. This is nothing new for Zente, who was hit by 21 pitches a year ago, and now owns the single-season HBP record, surpassing Nate Roberts' 25 in 2008. Additionally, Zente broke the school record for most career HBP with 59 in just three full seasons of action.

Unlikely Source Stabilizes Rotation: Sophomore Joe Johnson has come on and provided four tremendous starts since joining the rotation on April 14. Johnson had never made a start and had made just 16 relief appearances in two years prior to his start at Gardner-Webb, but has allowed only six earned runs in 24.1 innings in four starts (2.22 ERA) since. Johnson has matched his career high with seven innings pitched twice, and set a new career best with six strikeouts in a victory at Campbell on May 5. His 3.38 ERA against Big South foes is eighth in the circuit while his .183 opponent's average is second.

Wells Named Freshman of the Week (x4): For a record fourth time this season, freshman Tanner Wells was named the Big South Freshman of the Week on May 14. He is the only multiple time winner in the league this year and first freshman to ever earn four weekly awards. 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 recipients of a weekly award so far this season.

Locking Down Late: Senior Rion Murrah capped off his stellar campaign with four scoreless innings while earning his sixth save in Thursday's win over Presbyterian. Murrah leads the Big South with a 1.68 ERA among pitchers who have average at least 1 IP/team game. In fact, HPU has the top two in the category with redshirt-junior Jonny Vizcaino (2.31) holding second place.

Murrah has not allowed an earned run in his last nine appearances covering 16.1 innings and has tallied seven straight scoreless outings overall dating back to April 21. Vizcaino enters tournament play with 6.1 consecutive scoreless frames. Sophomore Garrett Letchworth also enters on a scoreless binge, having not allowed a run in his last 10 games, spanning 8.2 IP.

Saturdays Are For The Wins: High Point was victorious in both games on Saturday against Presbyterian, continuing an obscure trend. The Panthers are now 13-2 on Saturdays this year and have lost only one middle game of a series - the first weekend of the year against James Madison. Conveniently enough, the Big South Championship Game is scheduled for this Saturday.

Bomb Squad: HPU continues to leads the Big South and ranks 41st nationally in homers this year with 53, including 36 against the Big South in 27 games. The Panthers started slow, hitting only three homers in the first 13 games, but have struck for 50 blasts in the last 39 contests. High Point is three dingers shy of the Div. I school record (56) set in 2010. The Panthers are one of 22 teams in the nation to have at least 11 players hit a homer.

Year of the Doubleheader: The Panthers swept yet another doubleheader on Saturday, the team's seventh twin-bill this season. High Point has grown accustomed to the doubleheader with a 10-4 mark in such occasions this year. HPU has swept four doubleheaders, including the last three, and has only been swept once with a pair of splits.

#GoHPU