CHARLESTON, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team rallied for 19 hits to secure the series victory over Charleston Southern University with a 14-3 win on Saturday afternoon.
Site: CSU Ballpark
Score: High Point 14, Charleston Southern 3
Records: High Point (26-12, 11-3), Charleston Southern (21-16, 6-8)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "Happy to have secured a road series victory today with a strong overall performance. Ty [Brachbill] was fantastic and worked through some bad luck bounce hits but controlled the game from the start. Happy to see Mateo [Wells] and Cam [Chalfant] come get the last six outs as well. A complete offensive performance with quality at bats and extra base hits as well."
Back-to-back doubles from
Frank Kelly and
Landen Johnson opened the scoring, followed by an RBI single off the bat of
Seojun Oh to cap a two-run top of the first inning.
Jace Kohler roped his second home run of the season in the top of the second to extend the lead to 3-0, before Kelly dropped one into shallow left-center to score E'Mar Fleming II from second and make it a 4-0 ballgame.
CSU responded with three runs on three hits in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to 4-3.
High Point answered immediately in the third, as
Lane Allen launched a leadoff solo home run to center field to push the lead back to two, 5-3.
Kelly recorded his third hit - and second double of the day - to score Fleming and
Willie Ponce, and Johnson followed with another RBI single to bring home Kelly and extend the lead to 8-3 in the fourth.
With two runners on in the fifth, Kohler crushed his second home run of the afternoon - a three-run shot over the center field wall - to make it 11-3.
Oliver Cush, who pinch ran for Allen, scored on Oh's RBI single - his third hit of the day - to left-center, extending the lead to 12-3 in the eighth. High Point added more in the ninth, as Kelly recorded his fourth hit of the day with a two-run home run to push the lead to 14-3.
High Point held CSU scoreless in the ninth to secure the series win with a 14-3 victory in game two.
Ty Brachbill earned his eighth win of the season after tossing 7.0 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out six.
Kelly finished with a career-high four hits and five RBIs. Oh and Johnson each tallied three hits, while Fleming, Ponce, and Kohler added two hits apiece. Kohler also drove in four runs and hit two homers.
Up Next: High Point and Charleston Southern are back for game three of the series tomorrow, April 19 at 1:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
