HPU baseball falls at Gardner-Webb, 9-0

• High Point opened the weekend series at Gardner-Webb with a 9-0 loss on Friday.
• Sophomore Hunter Lee had two of HPU’s four hits, finishing 2-4 with a double.
• The loss drops the Panthers to 22-12 and 7-4 in the Big South.

Boiling Springs, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team lost on the road at Gardner-Webb by a score of 9-0 on Friday night in the first game of a weekend series in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Redshirt-senior Scot Hoffman took the loss for the Panthers and dropped to 3-3 on the season. Hoffman allowed four earned runs on five hits and three walks in 6-1/3 innings and struck out four. The right-hander left the game in the seventh having allowed just two earned runs, but two inherited runs scored after his departure.

Brad Haymes threw a complete-game shutout and earned his seventh win of the season, improving to 7-1. Haymes allowed just four hits and a walk and struck out 12.

High Point falls to 22-12 overall and 7-3 in the Big South with the loss. The win moves GWU to 24-13 overall and 4-6 in the Big South.

Gardner-Webb scored two runs in the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Collin Thacker drove in the first run with an RBI single and came around to score on a single by Patrick Graham.

The score remained 2-0 until the seventh when Gardner-Webb scored six to extend its lead to 8-0. The Runnin’ Bulldogs doubled their lead on a two-run triple by Paul Trick then doubled it again on a grand slam by Graham.

Matt Simmons tacked on an RBI double in the eighth to bring the final margin to 9-0.

Sophomore Hunter Lee went 2-4 with a double and senior Dominic Fazio went 1-2 with a walk.

The Panthers and Runnin’ Bulldogs will meet in Boiling Springs for the second game of the weekend series on Saturday, April 16. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.