HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Panther baseball team picked up a dominating 10-4 win over Northeastern on Friday night in Williard Stadium.
Carter Sheppard earned the win on the mound while
Reid Viar picked up his second save of the season.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 10, Northeastern 4
Records: High Point (13-26, 7-8), Northeastern (18-19-1, 4-8)
W: Carter Sheppard (4-4)
S: Reid Viar (2)
L: Sebastian Keane (3-4)
Head coach
Joey Hammond: "That's a couple of Fridays in a row where we put up some big runs and Shep did a really good job of continuing to keep it there for us, so I was really proud of the full team team effort. And we had a stretch there in that third inning where we had ten straight quality at bats against a Friday night starter, that's super impressive. And when you do that chances are you're going to win games, and so I was really happy. We talked about stacking at bats all season long and when you stack ten of them in a row, good things are going to happen. And then there were some opportunities there where momentum had the chance to go back swinging to their dugout. We talk about college baseball being a momentum game and we had the ability to kind of recapture that. Shep had a really good shutdown inning, Amato gets a big sacrifice fly to kind of extend our lead a little bit more and get the momentum back in our dugout, and then
Reid Viar, can't say enough. He came in pounding strikes and attacked the strike zone, and that's how you keep momentum and finish the game. So we're really excited about that, and now it's back to square one for tomorrow."
After giving up a home run in the top of the first,
Carter Sheppard retired 10 of the next 12 Huskie batters to carry HPU to the bottom of the third inning, where the Panthers would explode for eight runs that would be the difference-maker in the ballgame.
Javon Fields led off the inning with a ground rule double to right center and advanced to third on
Peyton Carr's single through the left side. Fields scored on
Blake Sutton's sacrifice fly out to tie the game.
Adam Stuart kept the rally going with a single to right field and moved Carr over to second base.
Andrew Amato picked up his first base hit of the night to load the bases before
Cole Singsank drew a four-pitch walk to score another Panther run. With the bases still loaded,
Sam Zayicek knocked a single to right field as Stuart scored to give HPU the 3-1 lead.
Josh Deslauriers out-ran a slow roller to the shortstop and was safe at first base with an RBI-single that scored Amato.
Jackson Melton laced a 2-RBI double to left center to score Singsank and Zayicek and leave two runners in scoring position.
With a wild pitch and a ground out from Fields, Deslauriers and Melton both scored in the inning to give HPU the commanding 8-1 lead.
Northeastern attempted to regain momentum in the second inning with a lead-off single and two walks. An RBI-sacrifice fly out scored a run while a wild pitch added another to the Huskie cause. But Sheppard would strikeout the next two batters to take back the control of the game with an 8-3 Panther lead still intact.
The Huskies added another run in the sixth, but HPU managed a run of their own after Carr singled up the middle and advanced to third after Stuart reached on a fielder's choice with a throwing error to second base. Amato's sacrifice fly out scored Carr and put the hosts up 9-4.
HPU added the final insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, as Melton and Fields were both hit by pitches and Carr walked to load the bases. With a wild pitch, all three advanced as the Panthers lead, 10-4.
Reid Viar closed out the night on the mound for HPU, finishing with 3.0 innings of work and two strikeouts while giving up no runs, hits, or walks.
Up Next: The Panthers try for the series win tomorrow night at 6 p.m. in Williard Stadium. There is free admission to tomorrow night's game.
#GoHPU
