• High Point earned its second-straight win with an 8-4 road victory at Charlotte on Tuesday.
• The Panthers had a season-high 18 hits in the win, the most in a single game since April 23, 2014.
• Senior Brady Williamson had a career-high five hits with a double, a triple , an RBI and a run scored.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team racked up a season-high 18 hits on its way to an 8-4 win over Charlotte on Tuesday night in Charlotte, N.C. Senior Brady Williamson went 5-5 with a double and a triple in the win.
“Obviously it is great to be able to win back-to-back games,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “It was also back-to-back tremendous offensive performances by this team. Brady Williamson came out of nowhere to go 5-5 tonight, which was awesome. We had great performances up and down the lineup. I am proud of the way the guys have worked through the difficulties we have had. We need to find a way to continue this and get better every day.”
Sophomore Andre Scrubb pitched four innings of relief to earn the win and improve to 1-0 on the season. Scrubb allowed just one earned run on two hits and three walks while striking out one. Redshirt-junior Jace Herrera got the start and pitched three innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out one.
Matt Horkey took the loss for the 49ers after giving up four runs, three earned in two innings of work. Horkey gave up seven hits without recording a strikeout.
The win is the second in a row for the Panthers who improve to 5-9 on the season. Charlotte drops to 4-6 overall after dropping its fourth game in a row.
High Point scored a run in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead, but the 49ers came right back with a run in the bottom of the frame to knot the game back up at 1-1. The Panthers got back-to-back two-out singles from seniors Cody Manzella and Spencer Angelis before an error on a hard grounder off the bat of freshman Carson Jackson scored Manzella from second.
The Panthers scored three runs in the second to open a 4-1 lead. Williamson reached with a double and came around to score on a single by sophomore Chris Clare. Freshman Hunter Lee followed with a double to score Clare and then scored himself on a wild pitch.
High Point continued to add to its lead in the third as Jackson scored to push the Panther advantage to 5-1. Jackson and senior Dane McDermott each singled ahead of Williamson who drove in Jackson with an infield single.
After Charlotte scored a run in the bottom of the third, High Point came back with two runs in the top of the fourth to extend its lead to 7-2. Lee and senior Josh Spano led off the inning with back-to-back singles and came around to score on an RBI single by Angelis to push the Panther lead to five.
Charlotte scored a run in the bottom of the sixth but HPU came right back in the seventh with a run of its own to go up 8-4. McDermott singled with one out and came around to score on back-to-back wild pitches.
The 18 hits by High Point were a season high and the most in a game since High Point had 25 hits against North Carolina A&T on April 23, 2014.
Four different HPU players recorded multiple hits in the game, led by Williamson’s career-high five which is the most in a single game by an HPU hitter this season. Angelis went 3-5 on Tuesday with a team-high two RBI and McDermott went 3-5 with a run scored. Lee and Manzella each finished with two hits for the Panthers.
High Point continues its current four-game road swing with a three-game weekend series at the College of Charleston beginning on Friday, March 13, at 6 p.m.