The High Point University baseball squad begins its postseason trek tomorrow, May 25th, at Truist Point in High Point when they meet No. 5 seed Charleston Southern. The Panthers are the No. 4 seed entering the 2022 Big South Baseball Championships after finishing conference play with a sweep of Presbyterian and a 14-10 record. 

Game Information -- Wednesday, May 25th | 11:00 AM
No. 4 High Point vs. No. 5 Charleston Southern
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | Championship Notes | Big South Baseball Championship Central
 

JUST ANNOUNCED: The seedings and pairings for the 2022 @InglesAdvantage #BigSouthBase? Championship!

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— Big South Conference (@BigSouthSports) May 21, 2022

2022 Big South Championship Preview

• Campbell has secured the No. 1 seed after claiming their fourth-straight regular-season title and seek their fourth-straight Championship game appearance after winning both the 2018 and 2019 tournament crowns and finishing as runner-up in 2021. Camel pitchers enter this year's Championship as the lone staff to eclipse 500 strikeouts for the season (501).
• USC Upstate (17-6-1) is the No. 2 seed for the second-straight year, and the Spartans join Campbell in receiving byes into the second day of six-team double-elimination tournament. USC Upstate dropped just one conference series this season and enters the postseason as the conference's top hitting team with a team batting average of .300.
• UNC Asheville (14-9-1) earned the No. 3 seed, as the Bulldogs return to the tournament after missing the postseason a season ago.  The third slot is the highest seed UNC Asheville has earned since the 1998 Championship, and Asheville will seek its first title since 2006.
• High Point (14-10) also returns to the postseason after missing the tournament in 2021 and earned the No. 4 seed. The Panthers look to return to the title game for the first time since the 2018 when they earned their highest seed ever at No. 2.  High Point will square off with No. 5 seed Charleston Southern (13-11) in the first game of this year's Championship. The Bucs claimed their highest seed since the 2011 Championship.
• Gardner-Webb and Winthrop both finished the regular season with identical 11-13 conference records. The Runnin' Bulldogs earned the tiebreaker and the final spot in the Championship following their 2-1 series win over the Eagles. Gardner-Webb will meet UNC Asheville on the opening day of this year's Championship.

Panther Particulars
Tournament Bid Secured
High Point has secured the No. 4 seed in the Big South Championship and will face off against Charleston Southern on Wednesday morning. The Panthers return to the tournament after they were tabbed the No. 2 seed in 2019.
 

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One huge goal reached, but we're not done working yet!#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/LB8qH0xQp6

— High Point Baseball (@HPUBaseball) May 20, 2022

High Point Power Hitters
Over the weekend, HPU batters had a combined 15 extra-base hits. Peyton Carr, Josh Deslauriers, and Sam Zayicek all hit homers while Cole Singsank notched a triple. The Panthers also hit at or above .333 in each game, 15-for-40 on Thursday (.375), 13-for-39 on Friday (.333), and 14-for-39 on Saturday (.359). Overall, HPU was 42-for-118 (.356) at the plate against Presbyterian.
 

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— High Point Baseball (@HPUBaseball) May 21, 2022

Panthers on the Hunt
With the Panthers' sweep of Presbyterian over the weekend, HPU has won eight of its last 11 contests. The stretch features series sweeps of North Carolina A&T and the Blue Hose, as well as wins over Duke and Campbell.

Panthers Hand Camels Rare Loss
The High Point Panthers were just the third Big South team to give the Campbell Camels a loss in league play this season. HPU's 11-10 victory is their first over Campbell since a 9-4 win on March 23, 2021.

HPU Earns Second Sweep of 2022
With Monday afternoon's win over A&T, the Panthers recorded their second series sweep of the season after blitzing College of Charleston (March 4-6).

Panther Pitchers Sweep Big South Weekly Awards
The HPU pitching staff was honored with the Big South starting pitcher and reliever of the week awards on Monday afternoon. Sam Garcia earned starter of the week after his 13 strikeout, 1 hit, 0 run outing on Sunday while Sean Duffy threw two perfect innings to take home reliever of the week.

Garcia's Record-Tying Day Propels Panthers
Sam Garcia threw a program record-tying 13 strikeouts at North Carolina A&T on Sunday while giving up just one hit and one walk in the shutout win.

Home Run Derby in Greensboro
Sam Zayicek and Blake Sutton hit two homers apiece in HPU's series at North Carolina A&T. On Sunday, Sutton hit a solo shot in the second inning of game one before he added a two-run bomb in the 8th. Zayicek followed up with another long ball in the next at bat for another insurance run.

In Monday afternoon's contest, Zayicek homered again after Sutton got on base with a triple for two RBI. 

HPU Pitching Staff Makes Jump to Lead League
High Point pitchers have seen major improvement in team ERA from just a season ago. In 2021, the Panthers finished 6th in the Big South as a team in conference-game ERA (6.31). This season, HPU's hurlers finished the regular season with the lowest ERA in Big South games (4.44) while Campbell was second (5.02).

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.