Leading Off

• The High Point University baseball team opens their home schedule with a four-game weekend series against Toledo.
• The will be the first time the Panthers and the Rockets meet on the diamond.
• Head coach Joey Hammond enters his first season with the Panthers after spending the last seven seasons as a volunteer assistant with Wake Forest.
• Hammond named Miles Miller and Mickey Williard as assistant coaches and Chris Maness as volunteer assistant coach before adding Gavin Weyman as director of player development to round out the staff.
• The Panthers return three out of their top four offensive producers from a season ago in Cole Singsank (.340/.451/.429), Peyton Carr (.304/.494/.376), and Brady Pearre (.282/.418/.385).

Panthers vs. Rockets

Friday's contest will mark the first meeting between the Panthers and the Rockets on the diamond.

Across the Diamond

• Toledo is 1-3 on the 2022 season after finishing 23-33 a season ago.
• The Rockets played Belmont in a four-game weekend series a week ago in Nashville.
• Toledo edged Belmont in Friday's game, picking up the 3-2 win before dropping the next three games (2-7, 0-5, 0-3)

Zayicek Goes Yard
Sam Zayicek homered at N.C. State on Tuesday. Zayicek's two-run shot to right field was his first of the season and the third in his career after hitting two homers in 2020.

Home Run Hitters
Cole Singsank and Cameron Lee hit their first home runs of the season in back-to-back innings against Jacksonville on Saturday, February 19th. Sinksank's 3-run homer to left field in the third inning of Saturday's game against the Dolphins was the second of his career.
Lee's solo shot in the next inning would give HPU their first lead of the game, 7-6.

Sunday Show
Sophomore David Keith earned the start on the mound for HPU on Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville. Keith finished with 6.0 innings pitched, and four strikeouts.

HPU Picked Eighth in Preseason Poll
High Point was tabbed eighth in the Big South preseason coaches' poll on January 27th. Campbell was the league favorite with eight first-place votes and 116 total points in the poll.

Trio of Panthers Highlight D1 Baseball Big South Prospects 
D1 Baseball released their Big South preview including top 2022 and 2023 draft prospects. Carter Sheppard was listed as the third-highest prospect in 2022 to come out of the conference. Sheppard finished 2021 with 45 strikeouts in 48.0 innings pitched.
Blake Sutton also cracked the top-20, slotted 16th. Sutton started 36 games behind the plate for the Panthers last season, hitting .282/.363/.366 and recording 237 putouts. 
Javon Fields rounded out High Point's top prospects at No. 30. Fields transferred to HPU from Towson, where he was the starting center fielder. He finished 2021 with a .257/.363/.384 line and had a .984 fielding percentage.

Carr Top-3 Big South Prospect in 2023
In the list of 2023 draft prospects, sophomore Peyton Carr was tabbed the third-best pick from the conference. Carr finished 2021 with the second-best team batting average, hitting .304/.494/.376 for the season.

Big South Tournament at Truist Point
The Big South conference announced in December that the 2022 conference tournament would be held at Truist Point in High Point. HPU has not played in the conference tournament since the 2019 season, when the Panthers fell to No. 3 Winthrop in a 6-2 ballgame.

2022 Season Preview from Coach Hammond
It's baseball season in High Point as the Panthers are set to open with a weekend series at Jacksonville on Friday, February 18th. Hammond is eager for the Panthers to take the field against a team wearing different colors, something he knows his players are ready for as well. "They're a very eager group that is trying to continue to find out what direction they're going to go in. It's a process but they've done everything we've asked of them with high energy," said Hammond. "I don't think you really identify your team's identity until you get into the season, until you get punched in the face and how you're going to react. And until you experience failure and success then you kind of figure out what kind of club you're going to be. But what they've shown day-in and day-out is a willingness and an eagerness to learn and get better. They've done everything that we've asked of them, and they've shown up and competed every day. So all that is wonderful, but you never really, truly know until you get another team there and you have to go fight and compete."

Hammond states the Panthers will utilize a pitching rotation of familiar and new faces to open the season. "We say this all the time, but your team's success is going to start and end with your pitching. More specifically, your starting pitching. It sets the tone, and we do have a good mix of returning guys and some new guys that are in the mix. We're heading into this first weekend with a rotation we feel really good about, having four guys that we could throw out there to start every week, which is what you're going to need, and they've earned it."

Carter Sheppard has earned the Friday night starting slot with a big arm that can regularly throw in the high 90s. Fans can expect to see Louis Stallone, a redshirt-freshman transfer from Arkansas, on the mound on Saturday. David Keith will round out the weekend rotation and be the Sunday afternoon starter. Hammond says that Teddy Merritt is expected to be the mid-week starter, but will see action this weekend in Jacksonville. The HPU bullpen will also heavily rely on returners Reid Viar, Parker Dean, and Sam Garcia while also mixing in freshman Everett Vaughan and Matthew Kahn.

With a club that returns six of its eight starters from the 2021 season, Hammond is looking to use a combination of veterans and transfer players to balance the lineup throughout the first few weeks of the 2022 schedule. Hammond says Blake Sutton will be behind the plate as much as possible. "You don't get too many times where a guy who has a chance to be an elite defender but can also swing the bat from the left side. He's everything you kind of dream of from a pro prospect in a catcher, so we're fortunate to have him." First baseman Cole Singsank will look to build off of a breakout 2021 season in which he was named All-Big South Honorable Mention. He'll be joined around the infield by Jackson Melton (2nd base), Adam Stuart (shortstop), and Peyton Carr (3rd base). Hammond is excited for the offensive prospects of his lineup as much as the defensive. "Adam Stuart has been unbelievably solid at shortstop for us and continues to give us good at bats every day. Cole Singsank, Peyton Carr, those guys are going to hit in the middle of the lineup and do damage on a regular basis."

The outfield will feature two transfers in center fielder Javon Fields and right fielder Cameron Lee. Brady Pearre will get the nod in left field on Friday to round out the starting nine. "I think a strength defensively for our team is going to be our outfield. I think we have an opportunity to have an elite outfield defense. We have some new faces out there; Javon Fields is a transfer from Towson and Cameron Lee is a junior college transfer. We also have Brady Pearre and Sam Zayicek out there who are veteran guys and we feel like we'll have as good of defensive outfield as any club in the country and that's another advantage for our pitchers."