KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The High Point University baseball team fell to No. 8 Tennessee, 7-4, on Tuesday afternoon.
Site: Lindsey Nelson Stadium
Score: High Point 4, Tennessee 7
Records: High Point (2-7, 0-0), Tennessee (8-1, 0-0)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "When you play on the road vs a top-10 team in the country you have to play mistake free baseball in order to win. We had a few costly mistakes that kept us from having the chance to win it in the end. There were some strong individual efforts tonight on the mound and at the plate that we can build off of. We learned a lot about our club on this road trip and feel confident we will soon be playing our best baseball when it matters the most."
Dalton Olsovsky got the ball for his second start of the year. The Vols got to him the first inning, but he was able to slow the game down and pitch a scoreless second inning. Olsovsky's night came to an end after throwing two innings, allowing two runs, on two hits, and striking out three.
Matt Little came in to relieve Olsovsky in the third. Little gave up one run on one hit to close out the third frame.
Tennessee jumped out to an early 3-0 lead as they would score two in the first and another in the third off a solo shot to right field.
In the fourth inning,
Dawson Harman drove one down the left field line to score
Adam Stuart from second to give HPU its first run.
Brett Ahalt hitting in the leadoff spot grounded out to shortstop, allowing
Sam Schner to score from third. High Point was only down 3-2 after scoring two in the top of the fourth.
David Keith got the ball to start the bottom half of the fourth inning. Keith threw a solid 17 pitch inning, facing four batters, walking one, and striking out one.
Both the Vols and the Panthers went scoreless in the fifth inning.
Jake Potts pitched a 1-2-3 inning to close out Tennessee in the bottom of the fifth.
Christian Baker took over on the bump in the sixth. The Vols would hit Baker a bit as two runs crossed the plate. He would only throw one inning, allowing two runs off three hits.
In the seventh,
Brayden Simpson absolutely smoked one that hit off the center field wall on a fly. He reached second base easily.
Stuart who went 3-4 on the night with a walk, doubled down the left field line past a diving Billy Amick. In to score from second was Simpson to add another run to the line score for High Point.
Noah Carter pitched the seventh for the Panthers. He pitched a clean inning going 1-2-3.
In the eighth,
Lucas Glover took over and Tennessee got a hold of him quick as they put up two runs on three hits.
This took High Point to the top of the ninth where they were able to gather one more run from another Stuart RBI single.
Cael Chatham went 2-3 on the night with two walks, improving his batting average to .423. His two walks brought him up to being tied for first in the nation in base on balls (14).
Up Next: High Point will be back home for a three-game series with Dayton. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, March 1.
#GoHPU
