HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team has won its third game in a row as they beat Elon, 11-7, on Tuesday night.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 11, Elon 7
Records: High Point (6-11, 0-0), Elon (7-9, 0-0)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "I am happy for our guys. It obviously feels good to win three games in a row at the right time heading into conference play. As great as that is, we got to continue to remember what got us to these wins. We got to have a couple of real good practices to stay sharp heading to Charleston Southern, and hopefully continue to play baseball the way we are playing right now."
Bryan Rivera got the ball for his first start in his collegiate career. Rivera went out and pitched 2.2 innings, allowing no runs, on one hit, and striking out one.
"I am really proud of a lot of individuals that competed on the mound tonight," Hammond said. "Starting with BJ Rivera. He took the ball and got us eight really good outs. He competed which allowed for our offense to do an amazing job settling down and getting out to a big lead."
Right from the first inning, HPU wasted no time getting on the board. A few Elon mistakes led to the first run for High Point as
Brett Ahalt scored on a throwing error.
The errors led to
Adam Stuart drilling one off the left center wall for a base clearing triple, scoring
Konni Durschlag.
Charlie Klingler did his job by getting Stuart home from third on a ground out. High Point was already up 3-0 at the end of the first inning.
Again, in the third inning, Klingler reached on a fielder's choice which allowed for Ahalt and Durschlag to score as Stuart advanced to second on a throwing error.
Frank Kelly would take the first pitch he saw and poke it out to right field scoring Klingler and
Brayden Simpson. An early 8-0 lead for HPU heading into the fourth.
Elon finally got something on the board as the Phoenix hit a grand slam to cut the lead in half, 8-4.
HPU answered right away as Klingler drove in his third run of the game as he reached on another fielder's choice that scored Durschlag.
High Point tallied two more runs in the fifth and sixth off a RBI single up the middle by Durschlag and a RBI double to left center by Simpson. Heading into the eighth, HPU held a 11-4 lead.
Elon climbed back a tad off another homer that brought home three runs to bring it to a 11-7 High Point lead.
The Panthers bullpen was able to shut them down to record their third win in a row heading into conference play.
Rivera earned his first career win on the mound as
Howell Polk,
Sean Duffy,
Lucas Glover,
Noah Carter,
Christian Baker, and
Jake Potts all saw action on the hill for HPU.
Up Next: High Point will head to Charleston Southern for a three-game series to start Big South play. First pitch is on Friday, March 15 at 5 p.m.
#GoHPU
