HPU Baseball Falls At Clemson By A Score Of 1-0

CLEMSON, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team lost, 1-0, to Clemson in a pitcher’s duel on Wednesday night in Clemson, South Carolina. Graduate student Jon Carlson pitched a career-high 6-1/3 innings in his first start in two seasons.

“I am extremely impressed and happy for Jon Carlson,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “This was his first start since 2012 and he showed up in a big-time situation. It is just frustrating to not get anything done when we had quality offensive situations. This was a good ball game but I would have liked to be on the other side of it.”

Carlson took the loss for the Panthers, dropping to 1-1 on the season. The left-hander allowed just one earned run on seven hits and two walks while striking out two.

Clate Schmidt earned the win for Clemson to improve to 5-6. Schmidt pitched six shutout innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out four. Matt Campbell pitched a perfect ninth with one strikeout to earn his seventh save of the season.

High Point drops to 25-19 on the season with the loss at Clemson. HPU is now 0-3 in the Div. I era against the Tigers. Clemson improves to 30-19 on the season with the win.

Clemson scored the lone run of the game in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Boulware. Steven Duggar singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a balk and a stolen base before scoring on the Boulware sacrifice fly.

High Point’s best scoring chance came in the fifth inning when the Panthers loaded the bases with no outs on a walk by freshman Alex Gross, a single by junior Tony Fortier-Bensen and an error on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Chris Clare. The Tigers escaped the jam unscathed thanks to a double play on a hard shot to the pitcher and a fly ball to the wall.

The Panthers once again loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth on back-to-back singles by juniors Josh Spano and Brady Williamson and a walk by Gross, but Fortier-Bensen hit a hard shot to the shortstop to end the inning.

High Point returns to action on Friday, May 9, when the team opens a three-game series against Longwood in Farmville, Va. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m.