HPU baseball outdoes Terps in 2-1 win

• High Point shutdown Maryland in a 2-1 series-opening win on Thursday at Williard Stadium.
• Six different HPU pitchers combined to hold the Terrapins to one run on four hits.
• Senior Josh Greene had two of the Panthers’ five hits and played a role in both runs with an RBI and a run scored.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team opened its final regular-season series of 2017 with a 2-1 win over Maryland on Thursday night at Williard Stadium. Six different HPU pitchers combined to hold the Terps to just one run on four hits in the win.

Sophomore Andrew Gottfried got the win for the Purple and White and improved to 4-2 on the season. Gottfried pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out three.

After Gottfried’s departure, the HPU bullpen combined to hold Maryland without a hit until the ninth inning, throwing five scoreless innings. Senior Jeremy Johnson got the final two outs for his second save of the season.

Brian Shaffer took the hard-luck loss in a complete game effort for Maryland. The right-hander went eight innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits while striking out seven and dropped to 7-3 on the year.

“This was a tremendous game to start the series tonight,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “We faced a really good pitcher in Shaffer but we kept grinding and took advantage of our few RBI opportunities. I have to tip my hat to our pitching staff. Each guy went out there and did their job. When you go out, throw strikes and give us a chance to play defense then good things usually happen. This is a good result tonight but there is a lot of this series left.”

High Point improves to 28-20 overall with the win while Maryland drops to 33-18.

The Panthers got on the board in the first inning when senior Josh Greene hit an RBI infield single to score sophomore Conner Dunbar, who reached with a double. Greene hit a hard shot into the hole between first and second that was knocked down in the grass by a sliding Terp second baseman but the throw to first was late.

Three innings later, HPU doubled the lead on an RBI groundout by junior Jordan Sergent. Greene and junior Carson Jackson led off the Panther half of the fourth with back-to-back singles and moved into scoring position on an error by the Maryland catcher. Sergent got the eventual winning run in with a hard grounder to first that allowed Greene to run home.

The score remained 2-0 until the ninth when a two-out bloop single by Will Watson scored AJ Lee who had reached with a single, the Terps first hit since the third inning. With runners on the corners and two outs, Johnson induced a lazy fly ball to Greene in center for the final out of the contest, securing the 2-1 victory.

Greene finished 2-3 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Dunbar also recorded multiple hits on the day, finishing 2-4 with a double and a run scored.

High Point and Maryland continue their three-game series on Friday, May 19, at Williard Stadium. The Panthers can claim their ninth series win of the season with a victory on Friday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.