High Point baseball is on the road this week for two mid-week matchups. The Panthers will first travel a town over to play the Spartans of UNC Greensboro before heading to Durham, N.C. for a battle against the Duke Blue Devils.

SERIES INFO
Tuesday, April 25 - vs. UNCG (UNCG Baseball Stadium) 6 p.m.
LIVE STATS | ESPN+
 
Wednesday, April 26 - vs. Duke (Jack Coombs Fields) 6 p.m.
LIVE STATS | ACCN

 
Matchup History Versus UNCG
High Point is 10-24 lifetime against UNCG. The Panthers hosted the Spartans 20 days ago at Williard Stadium, coming up short in the end, 13-4.
 
Across the Diamond (Spartans)

• High Point plays their fifth straight away game, a part of an eight-game road stretch.
• The Spartans have played 25 home games thus far, going 10-14 in those contests.
• UNCG recently fell to BYU over the weekend going 0-3 in the road series.
• Kennedy Jones has started in all 40 games this season and leads the team in batting with an average of .344.
• Hunter Shuey has the lowest ERA with a 2.38 in his 11.1 innings pitched. Jake Wolf has appeared in 18 games and pitched 52.1 innings with an ERA of 4.82.
• As a team, UNCG is batting .275 with a .430 slugging percentage.
• The pitching staff has an overall ERA of 6.53.

 
Matchup History Versus No. 20 Duke
High Point is 15-13 lifetime against Duke. During the 2022 season, the Panthers and Blue Devils competed in a doubleheader on May 1^st. After dropping the first game 14-2, the Panthers dominated game two with a 11-0 win.
 
Across the Diamond (Blue Devils)

• No. 20 ranked Duke is 27-12 overall and 12-8 in the ACC.
• The Blue Devils swept No. 12 Louisville in ACC play over the weekend at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
• On their home pitch, Duke 20-8. 
• Duke will play No. 9 ranked Campbell on Tuesday evening prior to the Panthers and Blue Devils matchup on Wednesday.
• Overall, the team is batting .282 with a .509 slugging percentage and a .403 on base percentage.
• The Blue Devil pitching staff has an ERA of 3.49 with their highest runs allowed coming against Clemson in the 9-14 loss. Duke has outscored their opponents 331-164 in their 39 games.
• Duke is led by Alex Mooney, who is an all-around player with a .346 batting average collecting 54 hits; 13 doubles, two triples and six home runs while stealing 11 of the 13 bases attempted.

 
Panther Particulars
 

Series Victory
The Panthers took care of business during the weekend of Aril 14-16^th. After a rain cancelation on Friday night, the Panthers and Runnin' Bulldogs split in a doubleheader on Saturday. A much-needed win on Sunday, the Panthers dominated at the plate, taking the series with a 13-7 victory.
 
Big South Leaders
Three Panthers rank in the top 10 in the Big South in home runs; Blake Sutton 12, Brett Ahalt 10, and Cael Chatham 10. High Point is second overall in the Big South in total home runs with 51.
 
Going Yard 
Cole Singsank recorded a career first, multi home run game on Saturday, April 15^th in the second game of the doubleheader. In Sunday's game on April 16^th, three Panthers hit home runs including, Singsank, Blake Sutton, and Cael Chatham. 
 
Perfecto!
Cael Chatham went a perfect 4-for-4 on Saturday, April 8th at Radford, registering his second game this season with four hits. He was the first Panther this season to have a perfect day at the plate.
 
Halladay Hits New Career-High
Redshirt junior Braden Halladay has been reliable on the mound for the Panther in a bullpen role. The right-hander worked a career-high 5.0 innings against Radford April 6th, allowing only two runs and three hits before getting the win. 
 
Season-High Strikeouts for Polk
Freshman pitcher Howell Polk pitched three innings on Saturday, April 1^st at Longwood, recording a season-high, eight strikeouts from the nine batters faced.

Fields Joins 200 Hits Club and 200 Games Played
Redshirt senior Javon Fields registered 200 career hits on Friday, March 31^st at Longwood. Fields also joined the 200 career games played status following the game on Wednesday, April 12^th at NC A&T. 
 
Gone Streaking
Redshirt sophomore Brett Ahalt sported an 18-game hitting streak from Mar. 3rd - 31st. Ahalt is currently hitting .301 with 10 HR and 22 RBI. He becomes the first Panther with a hitting streak of more than 15 games since Austen Zente hit safely in 28 straight games in 2018. 

Dingers
As a team, the Panthers have hit 51 home runs through the first 36 games of the season. It is the first time since 2019 that High Point has hit 40 home runs or more in a single season. 

Sutton Doubles Home Run Total From 2022
Catcher Blake Sutton has hit 12 home runs himself to start 2023, posting a new single season-high in his career. 

Ahalt and Klingler Surpass Home Run Totals From 2022
Outfielders Brett Ahalt and Charlie Klingler have blown past their home run totals from a season ago. Ahalt is up to 10 home runs after hitting just two while with George Mason in 2022. Klingler hit just one home run a season ago and has three in 2023.

Simpson Hits First Career Home Run
Freshman Brayden Simpson hit his first career home run on Saturday, March 25th against USC Upstate. Simpson has started each of the last six games at second base for the Panthers and is tied for third on the team in doubles (4). 

Chatham Records 200th Career Hit
With a multi-hit game against Davidson on March 7, graduate student Cael Chatham reached 200 career hits. After spending his first four years at Division III LaGrange, the Panther third baseman has now totaled 216 career hits. That total is tied for 57th in the nation among all active NCAA players. 

Co-Freshman of the Week
Brayden Simpson was named Big South Co-Freshman of the Week (Feb. 27-Mar. 5), after going 3-for-8 on the weekend series with eight RBI. He batted .444 to go along with a .571 slugging percentage.
 
Strikeout City
Junior right-hander Gus Hughes set a new single game program record on Sunday, March 5th in the final game of the four-game series with Lafayette. Hughes 15 strikeouts during the seven-inning run-rule game surpassed the previous 13 strikeouts set in 2022 by Sam Garcia at North Carolina A&T. Hughes is currently 26th in the country in strikeouts with 59.
 
Freshmen Action
In the Lafayette series, the team witnessed the first collegiate starts for freshmen Brayden Simpson at second base and Pokorak at first. Simpson recorded a game-high six RBIs on March 5th. Pokorak is hitting .289 through his first 16 games as a Panther with two home runs and eight runs batted in.

Hot Bats for Sutton
Sutton opened the 2023 season in quite the fashion... grand slam fashion to be exact. In the opening afternoon contest, the Bulldogs and Panthers were tied going into the bottom of the ninth, but with bases loaded, Sutton smacked a walk-off grand slam for HPU's first win of the season. Sutton was not done though. In less than 24 hours he hit two more home runs in the 7-6 win on Saturday afternoon, ending the series with a .364 batting average. The redshirt junior would hit two more home runs against Appalachian State for his second multi home run game of the season.

2^nd Ever Program Sweep for Opening Weekend
High Point opened the 2023 season with a series sweep over Bryant, marking the second time ever in program history. High Point started 3-0 for the first time since 2020.
 
HPU Picked Third in Preseason Poll
High Point was tabbed third in the Big South preseason coaches' poll on January 26th. Campbell was the league favorite with six first-place votes and 93 total points in the poll.
 
Quartet of Panthers Highlight D1 Baseball Big South Prospects
D1 Baseball released its top 40 2023 draft prospects from the Big South. Out of the 40-man list, Sam Garcia was ranked seventh, while pitchers Gus Hughes and Carter Sheppard were ranked 11th and 16th respectively. Outfielder Brett Ahalt also made the listing and placed 26th. 

D1 Baseball's Starting Pitchers
Garcia also made D1 Baseball's top 200 starting pitchers, coming in at 127.
 
New and Old Kids on the Block
High Point returns 11 pitchers and nine position players from last season, while adding 11 transfers and 10 freshmen to fill out the roster.
 
Last Season
High Point finished 2022 with a record of 22-33, 14-10 in Big South play finishing fourth in the Big South standings. HPU won 10 of its final 14 regular season games. The Panthers won 12 home games last season, doubling their home win total from the season before. High Point was eliminated by UNC Asheville in the 2022 Big South Tournament.