HIGH POINT, N.C. — For the second time in division I program history, the High Point Panthers baseball team snagged a season opener series sweep, this time against the visiting Bulldogs of Bryant. The 10-5 win was led by first baseman,
Cole Singsank with four hits and two RBI.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 10, Bryant 5
Records: High Point (3-0), Bryant (0-3)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: You hope and you prepare to come out here and expect to win every game. It's not always that easy and today was not that easy either. The score looks like it may have been but there's moments in every game where you just have to continue to grind our at bats, which I felt like by far today we finally did that. We had a streak where we had nine straight quality at bats in one inning and there'e the difference of the game."
Gus Hughes (1-0), the transfer junior, started on the mound for the Panthers, throwing six strikeouts through his six innings pitched ad only allowing two runs.
Hammond stated "We have
Gus Hughes on Sunday for this reason alone, we feel like he is going to be as good or better than anyone we face all year long on Sunday. We come into that day with supreme confidence, with the rest of the bull pen and Gus and he didn't disappoint."
In the first two innings, the action was minimal until the bottom of the third, when High Point put the first run on the board. WithSingsank occupying first base,
Javon Fields found the gap between the first baseman and right fielder for a single RBI double.
Bryant remained scoreless through the top of the fourth as the Panthers unloaded in the bottom half of the inning. Batting all the way around, High Point scored five runs off five hits, including two off the wall shots to right field, the first from
Xavier Cumbee followed by another from Singsank.
Going up 6-0, the Bulldogs answered in the top of the sixth with a double down the left field line which sent two runners home from the bases loaded with two outs. Forcing a pop fly to right field, the Panthers got out of the inning.
In High Point's next at bat, the Panthers answered the Bulldogs' two runs with their own two runs. HPU loaded the bases with three straight singles from
Patrick Matthews, Singsank and
Trenton Pallas.
Brett Ahalt's two RBI single into right field paved way for Matthews and Singsank to round the bases and score to make it 8-2.
In the top of the seventh, things got a little shaky for the Panthers as the team allowed the Bulldogs to score three runs off two hits and an error. With two outs and runners on first and third,
Sean Duffy, who earned his first save of the season, entered the game to relieve
Teddy Merritt. A grounder hit back up to Duffy sealed the deal on the top of the seventh.
High Point went on to score their final two runs of the day in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings, both of which were unearned.
Up Next: The Panthers will welcome Appalachian State to Williard Stadium on Tuesday evening, for a mid-week match-up at 4 p.m.
#GoHPU
