CHARLESTON, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team defeated Charleston Southern University 14-11 in game one of the series on Friday night.
Site: CSU Ballpark
Score: High Point 14, Charleston Southern 11
Records: High Point (25-12, 10-3), Charleston Southern (21-15, 6-7)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "Really proud of our guys' fight and stamina tonight. We know the games vs CSU will always take long and are prepared for that. Our bullpen was fantastic and the difference in the game. Offensively- to be able to have 4 innings with multiple runs, it gave us the cushion needed to hold on."
High Point put up a five-spot in the top of the second to get things rolling in game one.
Christian Smith opened the scoring with a three-run home run, his fifth of the season.
Willie Ponce and
Frank Kelly followed with a pair of RBIs, and Ponce later crossed the plate to extend the lead to 5-0.
After CSU tallied two runs in the bottom of the second, HPU responded quickly with a two-run home run from
Seojun Oh, his 12th of the season, to push the lead to 7-2.
In the top of the fourth, High Point struck for four runs. Kelly started the rally with a perfectly executed safety squeeze down the third-base line to score
Justin Ruiz.
Landen Johnson followed with an RBI single to right, bringing home Kelly for the ninth run.
Jake McCarter added another with an RBI single, and Oh later scored on a wild pickoff attempt to extend the advantage to 11-5.
CSU answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on five hits to cut the lead to 11-7, then added another run in the sixth on an RBI groundout to make it 11-8.
The Panthers added three more runs in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to 14-8. Ponce drew a bases-loaded walk to score McCarter, Kelly broke up a double play to allow Smith to score, and Ruiz came home on a wild pitch.
Charleston Southern tacked on three runs in the bottom of the eighth to close the gap to 14-11, but High Point shut the door in the ninth, allowing just one baserunner to secure the 14-11 win in game one.
Wade Walton,
Jack Carey, and
Tyler Shafer handled duties on the mound, with Shafer earning his fourth save of the season and Carey was credited with his third win.
Up Next: High Point and Charleston Southern are back for game two of the series tomorrow, April 18 at 2:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
