SERIES INFO
Friday, Feb. 14 -- vs. Lafayette (Williard Stadium, High Point, N.C.), 4 p.m.
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Saturday, Feb. 15 -- vs. Lafayette (Williard Stadium, High Point, N.C.), 2 p.m.
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Sunday, Feb. 16 -- vs. Lafayette (Williard Stadium, High Point, N.C.), 1 p.m.
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The High Point University baseball team opens its season this weekend (Feb. 14-16) with a three-game series against Lafayette College at Williard Stadium. As part of HPU's Family Weekend, admission to all three games is free.
 
Matchup History

• The two teams have played each other in a weekend series once before, back in 2007.
• High Point dropped the first game of the series but won the final two, shutting out the Leopards 4-0 in the series finale.

 
Panther Notes

• HPU was picked to finish second in the Big South for the second consecutive season.
• High Point finished sixth in the conference last season with a record of 14-13 in Big South play. The Panthers made it to the semifinal of the Big South Tournament before falling to Winthrop, ending the season with a 27-27 record.
• Six position players returning to the lineup started in at least 20 games last season, led by junior Travis Holt, starting in all 54.
• Also returning with more than 20 starts last season are seniors Joe Johnson (51 starts) and Ryan Russell (49), and sophomores Sam Zayicek (41), Evan Bergman (40), AJ Holcomb (24) and Brady Pearre (23).
• The Panthers return an experienced pitching rotation, highlighted by three senior starters and senior closer Grey Lyttle.
• All three seniors are slated to start this weekend, headlined by Harrison Smith. He finished last season with an ERA of 2.67, the lowest on the team and the second-best in the Big South
• High Point's other two starters for the weekend are Muhammed Eid and Johnson. Both pitched a career-high number of innings last season, with Eid holding opponents to a career-best .252 average in 2019 while Johnson fanned a career-high 33 batters.

 
Across the Diamond

• Lafayette finished last season 19-33 with a 12-13 record in Patriot League action, finishing in fourth place.
• LC was tabbed to finish fourth in the conference again according to the Patriot League preseason poll.
• Two Leopards were named to the Patriot League All-Preseason Team, sophomore Justin Johnson and senior Trey Durrah.
• Johnson led the team with a batting average of .284 as a freshman last season while Durrah had a team-high 44 RBIs in his junior campaign.
• Pitchers Brett Kreyer and JP Woodward handled the bulk of the starting duties for Lafayette a season ago, starting 25 games between them, and are expected to take the mound against the Panthers this weekend.
• Senior Mark Anderson also was a workhorse for the Leopards, starting in 13 games in 2019.

 
Up Next: High Point hits the road next week for its first road games of the season, traveling to N.C. Central on Tuesday (Feb. 18) before taking on North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Wednesday (Feb. 19).