OXFORD, Miss. – The High Point University Baseball team picked up their first Southeastern Conference win in program history in game one over Ole Miss by a score of, 7-3, on Friday night.
Site: Swayze Field
Score: High Point 7, Ole Miss 3
Records: High Point (2-4, 0-0), Ole Miss (2-4, 0-0)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "I mean, it was awesome. It was great to see. That's a big win. I think it was the first program win against an SEC school in history and we got it done on the road. I am just proud of our guys, it was a complete baseball game, which was incredible and that's what you want to see. I think it starts with our pitching and Brett (Wozniak) did a fantastic job setting the tone. We got runs early and stacked some quality at bats. We fought with two strikes in a tough environment. We played incredible defense all day long. You play a clean game, it doesn't matter who the opponent is, you get a chance every night."
Brett Wozniak earned his first win this season as he pitched 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits, one run, and striking out three. Right from the first inning, Wozniak set the tone for the rest of the night.
"Our starters have done a great job so far the whole year," Hammond said. "We expected that from Brett. We knew the moment wasn't going to be too big for him. It set the tone for the entire weekend."
Matt Little came in to relieve Wozniak in the sixth inning. Little pitched 2.2 innings, allowing two hits, two runs, and striking out three.
Jake Potts earned his second save of the year as he took over on the bump in the ninth. He shut the Rebels down to earn HPU its first SEC win in program history.
High Point set the bar high early in the first inning as the Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Konni Durschlag led the game off swinging at the first pitch driving it into center field for a leadoff single.
HPU had bases loaded with one out. Durschlag stood on third,
Sam Schner on second, and
Cael Chatham on first.
Brayden Simpson hit into a fielder's choice to second base allowing two to score on the throwing error to first.
Simpson up to bat in the top of the third was given a wild pitch in the dirt that got passed the catcher to score Durschlag from third. Chatham would advance to second. HPU extended the lead to 3-0.
Up came
Charlie Klingler who took an 0-2 pitch and poked it fair down the left field line. Chatham came in to score as Klingler was in safe at second base.
In between all the run scoring, Chatham had himself a day defensively as he would make a few great plays flashing the leather at the hot corner. HPU recorded two double plays on the night as well.
High Point would extend the lead to five in the top of the fourth when Chatham singled through the right side.
Eric Grintz crossed the plate as Schner would advanced to third.
Ole Miss got their first run on the board in the top of the sixth off an RBI single to right center.
Adam Stuart quickly answered in the top of the seventh adding another two runs as he singled up the middle. Ahalt came in to score as well as Simpson on the throwing error that soared past the first basemen. HPU was up 7-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
The Rebels would put two runs on the board to make it a 7-3 ballgame after a two-run homerun by Jackson Ross.
High Point pitching shut down Ole Miss in the final innings as they would turn a 6-4-3 double play to secure the win in game one of the three game series.
Up Next: Game two of the series will be played on Feb. 24. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
#GoHPU
