University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Travel to High Point in Final Road Series
05.08.2015 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team makes its final regular season road trip of the year this weekend when they travel for a Big South Conference series against High Point.
The Bulldogs (20-28, 4-14 Big South) enter the weekend coming off a pair of midweek losses, while High Point (23-22, 10-8 BSC) also dropped its midweek contest.
All three games can be seen on the Big South Network through this link, while live stats will be available via this link.
For Asheville, the Dogs traveled to No. 20 North Carolina on Tuesday night, finishing with just seven hits in an 11-2 loss before returning home Wednesday and allowing five late runs in a 5-3 loss against USC Upstate. High Point fell 17-4 at Davidson on Wednesday night, scoring all four of their runs in the eighth inning in the loss.
The Panthers have won the last seven meetings between the two teams and are 29-20 against UNC Asheville since moving to Division I (2000-present). In High Point, the Bulldogs are 9-16 all time.
Asheville is led offensively by Tommy Houmard, who is second in the conference with a .372 batting average, including a conference-best .493 average in Big South action. Hunter Bryant and Joe Tietjen are also hitting over .300 this season. Bryant is hitting .341 with a team-high 11 home runs and 41 RBI and is tied for second in the Big South in both home runs and RBI. Tietjen is hitting .304 and leads the team with 47 runs scored, tied for first in the Big South, and 10 steals.
Offensively, High Point is led by Josh Greene's .351 batting average, while Tony Fortier-Benson leads the Panthers with 27 RBI on the year.
The Bulldogs will start right-hander Joe Zayatz on Friday and left-hander Jordan Fulbright on Saturday. Zayatz has started 12 games this season and is 2-6 on the season with a 4.56 ERA. He has allowed 98 hits and eight walks while striking out 49 in 73 innings of work. Fulbright has appeared in 13 games with nine starts in his first collegiate season, with 5-1 with a 4.70 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings pitched.
For the Panthers, John McGillicuddy will take the ball to start the series, entering the weekend 5-3 with a 2.51 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched this season. Conor Lourey will take the mound for High Point on Saturday. Lourey has appeared in 14 games with three starts in 2015 and is 2-1 with a 1.79 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings of work.
Both coaching staffs are undecided on their Sunday starters at this point.
Bulldog Notes
--The Bulldogs rank No. 16 in the country and No. 1 in the Big South with 230 total Base on Balls drawn this season.
--Asheville is No. 12 in the country (No. 1 BSC) in total double plays with 50, and is No. 20 in the country (No. 1 BSC) in Double Plays per Game with 1.04 per game.
--The Bulldogs are No. 4 in the country (No. 1 in BSC) in Sacrifice Flies with 292 total on the season.
--Friday starting pitcher Joe Zayatz leads the BSC in Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio (6.13) and in Walks Allowed per Nine Innings (0.99) heading into the weekend.
--Zayatz and fellow starter Lucas Clarke lead the BSC in total starts with 12.
--Senior Hunter Bryant leads the BSC with 108 total bases and is No. 2 in the conference with 11 home runs and second in the BSC with 41 RBI.
--Senior Tommy Houmard is No. 2 in the BSC in overall batting average (.372) and leads the conference in batting average in conference-only games (.493). He is No. 2 in the BSC in total hits with 30.
--Justin Woods is No. 20 nationally (No. 2 BSC) in Sacrifice Flies with six.
--Joe Tietjen leads the BSC with 47 Runs Scored and is second in the conference in Runs per Game (1.00 per).
