HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team swept the series over Virginia Military Institute after winning both games of Sunday's doubleheader.
Game one:
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 12, VMI 6
Records: High Point (28-14), VMI (26-16)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "Great day overall and really happy to have swept the series. Sweeping a DH is a hard thing to do but I'm proud of how our guys competed all day long. In game one,
Ty Brachbill allowed a couple homers but was great for us punching out 11 guys en route to his 9th win.
Tyler Shafer and
Dylan Story (eighth save) were both sharp as they didn't allow a hit over the last 3 2/3 innings. Offensively,
Willie Ponce was incredible as he reached base all 5 times and was a single shy of the cycle.
Frank Kelly had the big grand slam that opened the game up. That was only after we had some great at bats with 2 outs and 2 strikes (Kohler and Hammond) to get him up in that big spot. Game two was the
Aidan Paul show. Aidan had complete command of all his pitches as he threw a CG gem allowing just 6 hits and no walks. I was really happy to see some selfless at bats as we were able to cash in with some sac bunts and sac fly's to take advantage of the limited number of hits we had on the day. The big hit was McCarters 2 run homer off the batters eye to push us to a 4 run lead!"
The Keydets got on the board first with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning, but High Point responded quickly as
Willie Ponce led off with a triple and later scored on a VMI wild pitch.
HPU took a 3-2 lead in the third inning when Ponce launched a two-run home run over the right field wall. VMI answered in the top of the fourth with a double down the right field line that scored two runs and gave the Keydets a 4-3 advantage.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Ponce reached base for the third time after being hit by a pitch, bringing home
Seojun Oh for the tying run.
Frank Kelly followed with a grand slam over the right field wall to give the Panthers an 8-4 lead after four innings.
After VMI added a run in the top of the fifth, HPU responded with a sacrifice fly from
Jake McCarter that scored
Lane Allen from third, extending the lead to 9-5.
The Panthers added three insurance runs in the eighth inning as Ponce delivered a two-run double, then stole third and scored on an errant throw to push the lead to 12-6.
Dylan Story shut the door in the ninth with his eighth save of the season, tying him for third on the program's Division I single-season saves list, as High Point secured the 12-6 series win.
Ty Brachbill earned his ninth win of the year, improving to 9-1 after striking out a career-high 11 batters in 5.1 innings of work.
Game two:
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 5, VMI 2
Records: High Point (29-14), VMI (26-17)
In game three, High Point scored twice in the first inning on a throwing error by the second baseman that allowed Ponce to score, before
Seojun Oh added a sacrifice fly to right field that brought home Kelly.
The Panthers extended the lead to 4-0 in the third inning when McCarter crushed a two-run home run to straightaway center for his 12th of the season. In the fourth inning, Kelly added another sacrifice fly, allowing Oh to tag and score for a 5-0 advantage.
The Keydets got on the board with an RBI triple and added another run in the seventh, but
Aidan Paul completed the seven-inning complete game as HPU finished off the series sweep with a 5-2 win in game three.
Paul earned his fifth win of the season, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out six batters.
Up Next: High Point will head to Campbell University for a Tuesday, April 28 6:00 p.m. game in Buies Creek, NC.
#GoHPU
