University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
High Point
Baseball Drops Big South Opener to High Point Friday Night
03.18.2016 | Baseball
THE RUNDOWN
Scores: High Point 8 – Asheville 0
Teams: Asheville (4-13, 0-1 BSC)
High Point (13-5, 1-0 BSC)
Location: Greenwood Field / Asheville, N.C.
SATURDAY LIVE STATS
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Visiting High Point scored runs in six of nine innings Friday night, including the last five innings, on the way to handing UNC Asheville a 8-0 loss to open Big South Conference play in the teams' first game of the series.
THE TURNING POINT
After High Point pushed across the first run of the night in the top of the third inning, the Bulldogs saw their first three batters in the bottom of the third inning reach base, only to be stranded after two shallow fly outs and a strikeout.
High Point starting pitcher Scot Hoffman struck out five Asheville batters in a row over the fifth and sixth innings as the visiting Panthers opened up the scoring from there.
NOTABLES
-The Bulldogs finished with six hits as a team, with two coming off the bat of freshman Scott Kobos. Derek Smith, Pete Guy, Joe Tietjen and Carmine Pagano all had one hit each – all singles – as High Point tallied 12 hits, including five for extra bases.
-Asheville starter Jordan Fulbright was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings of work. Relievers Zach Greene and Jesse Juday each tossed 1 2/3 innings to wrap up the night, with Greene recording all five of his outs via strikeouts but allowing three runs (two earned). Juday finished with one run allowed on one hit and a walk.
-Carson Jackson led the way for High Point, finishing with three hits – a double, triple and home run – as he drove home four of the Panthers' eight total runs.
-Hoffman earned his five win of the season, finishing with eight total strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.
-High Point received a leadoff triple in the top of the third inning en route to scoring its first run moments later on a RBI single. The Bulldogs missed their chance in the bottom of the inning, leaving the bases loaded, before High Point added a run in the fifth inning on a two-out RBI single.
-The visitors posted two runs in both the sixth and seventh frames, using a RBI triple and RBI double in the sixth and a two-run double in the seventh to add to the lead.
-High Point scored on an RBI single in the eighth inning before Jackson's solo home run in the top of the ninth ended the night's scoring.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH SCOTT FRIEDHOLM
“Jordan Fulbright gave us 5 2/3 innings of four earned run baseball. Quite honestly, it could have been two runs if we clean it up a little bit behind him. That's all we can ask from our starters. We've asked our pitchers to throw more strikes, and we have been overall, but what we have to do a better job of is stopping the consecutive innings of scoring by the opponent. They killed us by paper cuts tonight. We have to do a better job of someone coming in and putting up a zero when we need one.”
“I thought we did a good job early in the game, we had some opportunities and just didn't come up with the big hit. That's going to change. That'll come around. You just have to keep giving yourselves opportunities for that big hit. Offensively, I think we are going to be ok.”
“I talked to the guys about limiting the extra outs for the opponents. The pitchers have been doing a better job of that. We want them to hit and make plays behind them. We just have to keep grinding away at it.”
UP NEXT
-Following tonight's loss, the Bulldogs and High Point continue the series on Saturday afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. scheduled start. Check uncabulldogs.com and Asheville Athletics on social media (@AshevilleDogs on Twitter) for any weather-related game changes.
