• High Point advanced to the Big South Semifinals with a 1-0 win over No. 8 Longwood on Thursday.
• Senior Conor Lourey tossed a complete-game shutout, the Panthers second complete game of the tournament.
• Senior Spencer Angelis drove in senior Brady Williamson in the sixth for the game’s only run.
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Senior Conor Lourey pitched a complete-game shutout as the High Point University baseball team avoided elimination with a 1-0 win over No. 8 Longwood on Thursday night in Boiling Springs, N.C.
“Conor Lourey was special tonight,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “With the circumstances we are in, having to play out of the loser’s bracket, Conner really stepped up huge. It was a beautiful performance; he filled up the strike zone and allowed the defense to work behind him. He did exactly what we needed and I am very proud of his effort.”
Lourey allowed just four hits and no walks in his nine innings of work while striking out three. The right-hander allowed just one Lancer base runner in his final five innings of work. The nine-innings pitched by Lourey marks a new career high, besting his previous longest outing of 7-2/3 innings in relief against VMI last season. Lourey improves to 4-1 on the season with the win and is now 13-1 in two seasons with the Panthers.
Brandon Vick started on the mound for Longwood and took the loss despite allowing just one earned run in 6-1/3 innings of work. Vick gave up five hits and four walks while striking out seven. The left-hander ends the season with a 2-9 record.
HPU improves to 29-25 overall and advances to the Big South Semifinals for the second-straight season and the third time in the past four seasons. Longwood ends 2015 with an overall record of 22-34.
High Point scored the only run of the night in the sixth on an RBI single by senior Spencer Angelis. With runners on first and second and two outs, Angelis drove a single to right and senior Brady Williamson came around from second to score the winning run.
Williamson reached base in all three of his trips to the plate, going 1-1 with two walks in the leadoff spot. Angelis and sophomores Chris Clare and Josh Greene all reached base twice with a hit and a walk on the night.
The Panthers advance on and will face No. 2-seed Coastal Carolina in the Big South Semifinals on Friday, May 22, in Boiling Springs, N.C. The game between HPU and Coastal Carolina will begin 45 minutes after the conclusion of the semifinal game between Winthrop and Radford, which begins at 10 a.m. If High Point beats the Chanticleers then the two teams will play a second winner-take-all seven-inning game later in the day for a trip to the championship.