• High Point lost to Liberty, 16-3, in the regular season finale on Friday afternoon at Williard Stadium.
• Freshman Conner Dunbar reached base four times and scored two of the Panthers’ three runs in the contest.
• HPU clinched a top-three seed in the upcoming Big South Championship and will face either Liberty or Winthrop in the first round on Tuesday.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team ended the regular season with a 16-3 loss to Liberty on Friday afternoon at Williard Stadium. Freshman Conner Dunbar scored two of the three runs for the Panthers.
High Point finishes the regular season with a 31-22 overall record and a 14-10 record in the Big South. The 31 wins by the Panthers ties the program’s Div. I record for regular season wins, which was set in 2014. Liberty ends the season with a 28-27 overall record and a 12-12 mark in conference play.
Junior Andre Scrubb took the loss on the mound and dropped to 7-6 for the season. Scrubb allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits and three walks while striking out three.
Geoffrey Murphy allowed two earned runs on seven hits and four walks in five innings to pick up the win for Liberty, improving to 2-1 for the season.
Liberty scored a run in each of the first two innings to take an early 2-0 lead. The Flames’ run in the first came when Nick Walker scored on a passed ball and the run in the second was scored by Josh Barrick on a wild pitch.
Down 2-0, High Point got on the board with an RBI single by junior Josh Greene. The HPU center fielder hit a single into right to score sophomore Carson Jackson from second, making the score 2-1.
The Flames tacked on three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to increase their lead to 6-1. D.J. Artis(Southeast Guilford High School) drove in two runs with an RBI single and Walker followed with an RBI single to plate three in the fourth. Payton Scarbrough then hit a solo home run in the fifth, his fourth of the season.
High Point came back with a run in the bottom of the fifth to close back within four at 6-2. Freshman Conner Dunbar walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a single by junior Chris Clare and a fielder’s choice before scoring on a wild pitch.
After Liberty extended the lead back to five at 7-2 on a home run by Will Shepherd in the seventh, High Point came back with a run in the bottom of the frame to make the score 7-3. The Panthers loaded the bases on three-straight walks and scored when Jackson was hit by a pitch.
The Flames tacked on nine runs in the ninth to bring the score to 16-3. Shepherd, Dalton Britt, Jack Morris and Scarbrough all picked up RBI before Andrew Kowalo hit a grand slam for Liberty.
Dunbar reached base four times on the day, going 2-3 with two walks and two runs scored. Clare, Jackson and Brown all finished 2-4 on the day with Jackson picking up an RBI and a run scored.
High Point enters the 2016 Big South Baseball Championship as either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed and will play Liberty or Winthrop in the opening round at Lexington County Baseball Stadium in Lexington, S.C., on Tuesday, May 24.