HIGH POINT, N.C. — Brett Ahalt homered early while
Blake Sutton saved his two blasts for later en route to High Point University's 7-6 win over Bryant University Saturday afternoon, securing the season-opening series win. The Panthers will go for the sweep Sunday at 1 p.m.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 7, Bryant 6
Records: High Point (2-0), Bryant (0-2)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "Series win — we talk about this. This is obviously the first goal when you go into a weekend series: is to come out victorious for the weekend. To secure that on Saturday, is obviously super important because you have the ability to potentially separate yourself.
"We talk about championship-level teams that have the ability to not only win a series but finish the series. If you have the chance to sweep a team, you need to try and take advantage of that. If we want to be a championship-level team, that's what we are going to have to be able to do. To put ourselves in that situation, is encouraging but the next step is the most important step: we need to be able to finish."
The long ball has been the story of the weekend thus far. Sutton, who was responsible for the walk-off home run Friday night, hit two more Saturday while Ahalt smoked his first at HPU to open scoring in the first inning.
In the third, Bryant evened the scored at 1-all — with a dinger of its own — before an RBI-double in the next frame put the Bulldogs in front. The deficit didn't last long as the Panthers pieced together a three-run fifth inning to go ahead for good.
Javon Fields started the scoring with his RBI-double, plating
Trenton Pallas who walked, and then scored on an RBI-groundout via
Cael Chatham. In between those runs, Pallas scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2 HPU.
Patrick Libby (W, 1-0) earned the win for the Panthers after relieving starter
Brett Wozniak with two outs. The Panthers and Bulldogs swapped home runs in the sixth, and then Sutton matched his sixth-inning blast with another in the eighth to give the redshirt junior catcher three home runs in less than 24 hours.
"Blake has been great for us" Hammond said. "He's worked really hard, and his swing has dramatically improved. He does a good job of being in a plan and trusting his own skill set. We know there are going to be moments, but he has that ability at any time to knock a ball out of the yard and when he is going good, he is a difference maker. And he is certainly doing that for us right now. Big hits in big situations."
Following Sutton's solo homer,
Jackson Melton lifted a ball into centerfield that the two outfielders couldn't track, and then resulted into a triple to plate the would-be winning run in
Cole Singsank, who walked. The Bulldogs cut into the Panthers' lead with a three-run homer, which resulted into a pitching change, in the top of the ninth frame.
Connor Smith replaced
Carter Sheppard, who pitched 3.2 innings, with two outs. Smith then secured the third out in the first batter faced as he got the clean-up hitter Derek Smith to fly out.
Up Next: The Panthers will go for the series win over Bryant back at Williard Stadium Sunday, with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
#GoHPU
