HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team secured the series victory with a, 14-11, win on Saturday evening. Tonight's win tied the single season win record at 35 as HPU will go for the record and the sweep tomorrow afternoon.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 14, Gardner-Webb 11
Records: High Point (35-15, 16-4), Gardner-Webb (16-33, 5-15)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "I'm proud of our guys for being resilient. I'm not surprised that we trust and believe in our skill set. Anytime you're down 7-1 in the middle innings of the game, you learn more about your team. I'm just proud of our guys for sticking to it and believing and trusting in each other. His line score doesn't show it but I can't say enough good things about
Howell Polk. Those 14 gigantic outs he got for us. If he doesn't do that, we don't win the game.
Adam Grintz came in and finished it out the way we know he can. It was great to see some of the seniors, between
Miggy Echazarreta, and
James Murphy getting on base 11 out of 11 times, and three homers between the two, it was great to see the production. When we get production out of our seniors like that, we're tough to handle. We got an opportunity tomorrow as every game matters. It is really important to show up tomorrow ready to compete and finish out this weekend."
For the second game this weekend, HPU tallied the first run of the afternoon during their first at-bats. With runners on the corners,
Jackson Melton found the gap in right field to score
Brayden Simpson with ease.
The Runnin' Bulldogs had a response in the top of the second inning with a two-run home run to take the 2-1 lead. In the third inning, a three-run home run for the Bulldogs put them ahead 5-1, followed by another two-run homer in the fourth to take a six run lead.
High Point had an answer by putting up six runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at seven on five hits. A home run from
Christian Smith, two RBI singles, a double, and a run on a passed ball got the job done for HPU as they rallied to come back and tie the game in the fourth inning.
HPU hit three home runs mixed with an RBI single to put up six runs in the sixth inning to take a commanding 13-7 lead.
Miggy Echazarreta, Melton, and
James Murphy blasted one out of the park to spark the second six-run inning for HPU.
GWU tallied another run in the top of the seventh off an RBI single to right field to cut into the large HPU lead. With two outs in the top of the eighth, GWU worked to score three runs on a shot down the first base line that cleared the bases.
Murphy blasted his second home run of the evening with a shot to right center to add to the Panthers 14-11 lead after eight innings.
Adam Grintz who pitched 1.1 innings of relief shut down the Runnin' Bulldogs in the ninth to secure the series victory for HPU with the 14-11 win on Saturday afternoon.
Howell Polk was credited with the win tonight after he pitched 4.2 innings of relief keeping the Panthers in the game. Polk improved his record to 2-0 on the season.
Up Next: High Point will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon as first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
