HPU baseball drops first-round contest to No. 7 Liberty, 6-1

• High Point fell to No. 7 Liberty in the first round of the Big South Championship by a score of 6-1 on Tuesday in Lexington, S.C.
• Senior Dominic Fazio and sophomore Carson Jackson recorded the Panthers’ only two hits in the contest.
• Freshman Andrew Gottfried took the loss despite allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings of work.

LEXINGTON, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team lost to Liberty, 6-1, in the first round of the Big South Championship on Tuesday morning in Lexington, S.C. Freshman Andrew Gottfried took the loss despite allowing just two runs in seven innings.

“Jack DeGroat completely dominated our hitters and that was unfortunate because Andrew Gottfried was really good on the mound today,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “To give us seven innings and only allow two runs, it really kept us in the game. We were able to load the bases in the ninth, but unfortunately our bullpen gave up four runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Now we are in survival mode and we will see if our guys have the toughness to do it.”

Gottfried dropped to 6-5 in his freshman season after giving up two earned runs on six hits and no walks in seven innings while striking out four. The right-hander allowed just one base runner in his final four innings of work.

Jack DeGroat held the Panthers to just one hit in seven innings while striking out nine to earn his fourth win of the season. DeGroat allowed just five base runners in the contest and retired the final 10 batters he faced.

The second-seeded Panthers drop to 31-23 overall with the loss while Liberty improves to 29-27.

The Flames scored the first runs of the Big South Championship with two in the third to go ahead, 2-0. LU scored both runs with two outs after Gottfried struck out the first two batters in the frame. Nick Walker hit a solo home run to right, his first of the season, and then Andrew Yacyk singled to score Will Shepherd.

Liberty added four more runs with two outs in the eighth to extend the lead to 6-0. Dalton Britt had an RBI single while both Sammy Taormina and Andrew Kowalo had RBI doubles to plate the four runs.

High Point loaded the bases with one out on walks by senior Dominic Fazio and junior Drew Fopeano and a single by sophomore Carson Jackson before scoring its only run of the day on an RBI groundout by junior Josh Greene.

Fazio and Jackson recorded the Panthers’ only runs of the day with Fazio finishing 1-2 with two walks and a run scored and Jackson finishing 1-4.

High Point drops into the losers’ bracket and will face the loser of the game between No. 3 Longwood and No. 6 Winthrop on Wednesday, May 25, at 9:30 a.m., in Lexington, S.C.