BOONE, N.C. – The High Point University baseball pitching staff struck out 10 batters in a 3-2 victory over Appalachian State University on Tuesday night.
Site: Beaver Field
Score: High Point 3, App State 2
Records: High Point (15-9), App State (12-11)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "Awesome game, I'm proud of our guys. Can't say enough about our pitching staff start to finish. It wasn't a clean start to Justin [Silverstein] start but what an incredible job of minimizing with the bases loaded. That was a big difference. Jack [Carey] was dominant, Mateo [Wells] was untouchable, Tyler [Shafer] pitched well, and Dylan [Story] was dominant as well. It was an incredible performance from start to finish with our guys on the mound, as it honestly made the difference. It was tough sledding offensively for us, but when it mattered the most, we had some big two-out RBI that cashed in and gave us that three spot. You put crooked numbers up and pitch the way we pitched, you're going to win and I'm proud of getting the win here. It's the first time in a long time getting a win up here for this program. Want to keep the momentum heading into the weekend."
The Mountaineers struck first with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. High Point starter
Justin Silverstein worked out of the early jam, recording two strikeouts to limit the damage.
HPU responded in the second inning with back-to-back hits from
Seojun Oh and
Jace Kohler, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs. Oh came around to score on an RBI ground out by
Justin Ruiz to even the game at 1-1.
Frank Kelly followed with a single up the middle to bring home Kohler and give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. After Kelly stole second,
Willie Ponce added to the momentum with an RBI single, scoring Kelly and extending the lead to 3-1.
Mateo Wells took over on the mound after three scoreless innings of work from
Jack Carey, and was dominant, striking out the side in the fifth inning. He continued to deal through the sixth and seventh, finishing with six strikeouts across three shutout innings while keeping App State off the board.
The Mountaineers added a run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single through the right side, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Dylan Story came in to close it out, striking out two batters to earn the save and secure the 3-2 victory for the Panthers. Wells earned the win en route to giving High Point its first win in Boone since 2014.
High Point's pitching staff was outstanding, allowing just three hits on the night, highlighted by Wells' six strikeouts in relief.
Up Next: High Point will be on the road for a three-game series at Gardner-Webb University starting on Friday March 27 at 6:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
