SERIES INFO
Friday, March 19 -- at USC Upstate (Spartanburg, S.C.), 4 p.m.
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Saturday, March 20 -- at USC Upstate (Spartanburg, S.C.), 1 p.m.
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Saturday, March 20 -- at USC Upstate (Spartanburg, S.C.), Approximately 4:30 p.m.
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The High Point University baseball team (6-7, 4-3 Big South) has its first road games of the 2021 season when the Panthers travel to Spartanburg, S.C. to face USC Upstate (12-2, 5-2 Big South). The teams will meet Friday (March 19) at 4 p.m. before playing a doubleheader on Saturday (March 20), starting at 1 p.m.
 
Matchup History

• High Point and USC Upstate have only met five times before, with the Panthers holding a 3-2 advantage in the young series.
• The teams split a home-and-home in 2008 before meeting in a weekend conference series in 2019, which High Point took 2-1.

 
Across the Diamond

• USC Upstate is 12-2 on the season and 5-2 in conference play.
• The Spartans hadn't lost until losing two out of three with Campbell last weekend, picking up a midweek win at Clemson along the way.
• Upstate is tied with Campbell and Charleston Southern atop the Big South standings, with High Point currently occupying the fourth spot.
• The Spartans have the best batting average in the Big South at .299, good for 30th in the nation.
• Upstate is also one of the best fielding teams in the country, entering the weekend with a .986 fielding percentage, the best in the conference and ninth-best in the country.
• Jordan Marks has some of the best control in the nation, leading the country in strikeout to walk to ratio at 32.0, with 32 strikeouts and just one walk. Marks is tied with High Point's Grey Lyttle for the conference lead in strikeouts
• Four Spartans hit over .300, led by Jason Matthews at .397, fifth in the Big South. He also leads the team with 25 hits (20th in the country) and eight doubles (fourth in the country).
• Cameron MacIntosh (.358), Jack Gallagher (.328), and Devin Buckner (.326) also hit above .300 for Upstate, with Gallagher leading the team with 18 RBIs.

 
Panther Notes
Last Time Out
Won its first midweek game of the season with a 9-2 victory over Longwood on Tuesday. David Keith made his first career start and it was a quality start at that, going 6.0 innings while giving up two runs on two hits with four walks and six strikeouts.
 
Earning His Stripes
Carter Sheppard currently has the best ERA in the conference among qualifying pitchers. His mark of 1.10 tops the Big South and puts him in 64th place in the country. Grey Lyttle is close behind him in the conference standings, with his mark of 2.25 putting him fourth in the league.
 
Not so Lyttle
Lyttle finds himself atop the Big South in total strikeouts after four starts with 32 on the season, including a season-high nine against Asheville. He's racked up the 32 Ks and issued only four walks for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8.00, the second-best in the conference. That also puts him 46th in the country while his 32 strikeouts are good for 26th in the nation.
 
Turning Two
HPU has turned 11 double plays on the year to lead the conference and sit 41st nationally. 
 
Hopping on the Cole Train
Redshirt freshman Cole Singsank had five hits in both games of the doubleheader against Radford and was the only Panther to hit safely in all three games of the series. He followed that up with a double on Tuesday for his fifth double in the last four games. Singsank currently leads the team with a .371 batting average, with 13 hits in 35 at bats.
 
Carrving them Up
Freshman Peyton Carr went yard twice in the first game of the doubleheader against Radford, including a three-run shot for the first four-RBI game of his career. He currently has five multi-hit games on the season, tied for the most on the team.
 
Home Run Parade
The Panthers held a home run parade in the first game of the doubleheader against UNC Asheville, trotting around to home four times in the contest after not hitting one heading into the weekend. It's the most homers High Point has hit in a single game since mashing five out of the park at Gardner-Webb on April 14, 2018.
 
Deja Vu
Brady Pearre had two of the home runs in that game against Asheville, becoming the first member of the Purple and White to hit multiple home runs in the same game since….Pearre hit two on….March 6, 2020, exactly one year to the day that he did it against Asheville.
 
WHIP it Real Good
HPU is second in the Big South and 38th in the country in WHIP entering the weekend, allowing just 1.22 walks and hits each inning pitched, second only to USC Upstate.
 
Super Sam
Sam Zayicek had a strong end to the series against Asheville, going 6-9 in the final two games of the series. He drove in three runs in each game with a total of four extra-base hits. The redshirt sophomore had a double and a triple in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday before racking up a career-high four hits with two doubles on Sunday.
 
Getting Offensive
High Point put up 31 runs in the three games against UNC Asheville for the most runs in a weekend series in program history since scoring 32 on Presbyterian in a sweep of the Blue Hose in 2015.
 
Went Streaking
Joe Johnson's career-long hitting streak finally came to a close in the final game against Asheville. He was unable to record a hit in his four at bats, stopping the streak at eight games this season and 15 in a row dating back to Feb. 25, 2020.
 
Short-Outing Save
While Johnson's hitting streak may have come to an end on Sunday, he made his pitching debut this season in the game, coming in from left field to get the final out of the game. He needed only two pitches to induce the groundout to short to secure the sweep and pick up his second career save.
 
Limiting the Hitting
The Panthers only give up 6.91 hits per nine innings, the best mark in the Big South and 20th-best in the nation. High Point has held opponents to five or fewer hits four times and has only allowed double digits twice.
 
What Happened to Friyay?
Friday has been a rough day for the Panthers this year, with three of the four Fridays HPU has been scheduled to play affected by schedule changes. The Purple and White's season-opener on Feb. 19 was moved from Williard Stadium to Truist Point and the following week's Friday game was postponed after an issue with the umpires. Most recently, High Point was scheduled to play Winthrop at the beginning of the month, but COVID-19 protocols postponed that series and led to the set with Asheville.
 
Making the Sacrifice
High Point has hit nine sacrifice flies this season, the second-most in the Big South and 23rd-most in the country. Individually, Singsank has hit two, second in the conference and 47th in the country.
 
Up Next: The Panthers return home next week for a midweek game against Campbell on Tuesday (March 23) before hosting Gardner-Webb for a series next weekend (March 26-27).