• High Point clinched its weekend series with a 12-7 win over Gardner-Webb at home on Sunday.
• The Panthers had a season-high 19 hits in the win and got at least one hit from every starter.
• Junior Blake Schunk went 4-4 with three doubles and three RBI in the win for HPU.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team put up a season-high 19 hits in its 12-7 win over Gardner-Webb on Sunday afternoon at Williard Stadium. The win clinched the conference series for the Panthers, HPU’s first Big South series win of the season.
All nine Panther starters recorded at least one hit and six players had multiple hits, led by junior Blake Schunk who went 4-4 with a three doubles, three RBI and a run scored. Junior Spencer Brown went 3-5 with three RBI and a run scored while juniors Austen Zente, Carson Jackson and Hunter Lee and sophomore Connor Dunbar all had two hits in the win. HPU’s previous season high for hits was 18 in the win at Davidson on Feb. 21.
“We got 19 hits and didn’t make any errors today and that should win you every ballgame,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “I need to credit coach Jason Laws for the way he handled the offense. Everything that you can see from an offense we put out there today and that is what it took to win. We got good contributions from up and down the lineup. I am proud of these guys for figuring out a way to go out and win this series.”
Freshman Trevor Holloway got the win for High Point on the mound, improving to 2-3 this season. The right-hander pitched six innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits and two walks while striking out three.
Isaac Campbell dropped to 0-4 on the season for Gardner-Webb after giving up seven earned runs on nine hits and two walks with two strikeouts in two innings of work.
High Point improves to 13-14 overall and 3-6 in the Big South with Sunday’s win while Gardner-Webb drops to 13-16 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
The Panthers scored seven times with two outs in the second to jump out to a 7-0 lead. HPU strung together eight-straight two-out hits including three-run home runs from Zente and Brown. It was Zente’s seventh home run of the season and the first of the season for Brown.
After Gardner-Webb scored three times in the third, High Point answered with three of its own in the bottom of the frame to go back ahead by seven at 10-3. An RBI bunt single by Zente scored the first run and Schunk followed with a two-run double for the Panthers.
Two-run home runs by Collin Thacker in the sixth and Mason Fox in the seventh pulled Gardner-Webb to within three at 10-7. High Point scored once in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Schunk and then again in the eighth when Jackson came home on a wild pitch to push the lead to 12-7.
High Point will once again play two midweek contests this week starting with a game at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday, April 4. First pitch against the Aggies is set for 6 p.m.