MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – Four Panthers recorded two hits tonight as the High Point University baseball team evened up the series as they defeated the University of Minnesota, 11-7, on Saturday night.
Site: U.S. Bank Stadium
Score: High Point 11, Minnesota 7
Records: High Point (17-6, 3-0), Minnesota (10-11, 2-4)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "A lot of really good things, our offense did a fantastic job of responding. It was certainly not our best night last night, and their pitchers have a lot to do with that. We pride ourselves on being able to be a complete offense and stack some bats and go reach base every single inning. I felt it was relentless pressure from the start to finish, and I think that was important. Really proud of
Dylan Story and
Adam Grintz. I can't say enough good things about them, they got a lot of big outs, and made some pitches dealing with adversity and worked their way through it.
James Murphy was also incredible, not surprised he comes up with a big hit to knock in a couple of runs too. But I think we needed that big homer early from
Brayden Simpson to kind of light and loosen up a bit.
Justin Ruiz did a fantastic job all the way through, can't say enough good things. It's a big win for us, but it's just one win. We come here with the expectation to win and to win the series, we have an opportunity right in front of us tomorrow with a quick turnaround."
The sophomore,
Dylan Story started game two against the Golden Gophers on Saturday night. The High Point offense helped build a cushion under Story's belt for most of his start, finishing with 5.0 innings thrown, allowing six runs on seven hits and earning the win.
A scoreless first two frames from either side led to
Brayden Simpson breaking the silence with a no doubt three-run home run in the top of the third. The Golden Gophers responded with a solo home run of their own in the bottom half to cut into the HPU lead.
High Point capitalized on the hot bats as
Landen Johnson plated a three-run bases clearing double to right center field. HPU led Minnesota 6-1 after four innings.
A two out single from
Christian Smith in the top of the fifth led to
Justin Ruiz smacking his third homer of the season to add to the Panthers lead. Minnesota started to chip away off Story in the bottom of the fifth starting with a leadoff home run, followed by three more hits bringing home two runners to make it an 8-4 ball game.
Hammond went to the bullpen with no outs in the sixth inning bringing in
Adam Grintz with two runners on. The Golden Gophers managed to put together three hits to score three runners bringing it to a one-run game, 8-7.
With two outs and Ruiz standing on second base,
Konni Durschlag slapped a single up the middle as Ruiz crossed the plate sliding past the tag to give HPU the two-run lead in the seventh. Two more insurance runs came home for HPU in the eighth off a single up the middle from
James Murphy.
Grintz sent the Golden Gophers down in order in the bottom of the eighth and continued to hold them off the board as he closed the door in the ninth to earn HPU a Saturday night, 11-7, victory to even up the series.
Up Next: High Point will play game three of the series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
