HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team opened its conference schedule with a, 16-6, victory over Charleston Southern on Friday night.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 16, Charleston Southern 6
Records: High Point (13-5, 1-0), Charleston Southern (12-4, 0-1)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "Good way to start conference play. Everybody hit a fresh start at 0-0 and this is the kind of start we were anticipating and hoping to have. I can't say enough good things about Wade (Walton). That was a masterful and dominant performance. I'm just so proud of him for the way he came in and competed. Putting up zeros the entire time, fantastic job there. I felt our offense had energy early, and if you knock a Friday night guy out of the game in three innings, that is a good night. It starts at the top, can't say enough good things about Konni (Durschlag) when he goes, we go. He had a big three-run homer, but when your number one and two hitters reach base 10 out of 10 times, you're going to score a lot of runs. I was really happy to see that, and we had some quality at-bats up and down the lineup. That is how you put up 16 runs. We got to turn the page and move on to tomorrow and have a chance to win a series, that is our ultimate goal."
To no one's surprise, freshman
Wade Walton was huge on the mound for HPU tonight. Walton recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings pitched in the conference opener improving his record to 4-1.
Backed by the explosive HPU offense; the Panthers put up three runs on three hits to close out the first inning.
Three Hillier got the party started after poking a two-run single through the left side to open the flood gates for the High Point offense
On the mound, Walton stayed in control striking out his eighth batter by the fourth inning after HPU plated two more runs on back-to-back walks in the third. CSU plated its first run in the fifth inning off a bases loaded walk, just minutes before
Konni Durschlag ripped a three-run home run to left field to increase the High Point lead, 8-1.
A scoreless sixth frame from both sides led to a six run seventh inning for the Panthers. Five hits, and an error led to all six runs crossing the plate. It started with a
Landen Johnson RBI single off the wall to plate Durschlag, followed by a
Brayden Simpson single to right field. To keep the inning going,
Jackson Melton plated two more runners on a single to right field, before an errant throw over to second base by the pitcher scored Hillier.
Jack Clark capped a six-run inning for HPU as he chopped one to third base allowing Melton to cross the plate.
CSU was able to cut the deficit by scoring five runs in the eighth inning on one hit.
Nick Semon and
Bryan Garrett split the pitching duties in that frame as both struggled to avoid giving out free bases. In the bottom of the eighth, High Point tacked on two more runs after Johnson scored on a wild pitch and a sac fly by
Jace Kohler. Garrett went back out and put the Buccaneers down in order to clinch the conference opening win.
Up Next: High Point will play game two of the series tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. at Williard Stadium.
#GoHPU
