University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
High Point
Baseball Team Heading to High Point for Three-Game Series
04.12.2017 | Baseball
Asheville-High Point Notes (PDF)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team dips back into Big South Conference competition this week with a three-game series at High Point. The Bulldogs and Panthers will be operating on a short week as the games have been moved up a day to account for the Easter holiday. The first game of the series will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 13. The second game of the series will air on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App on Friday, April 14, with first pitch slated for 7:02 p.m. The two programs will close out the series with a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, April 15.
THE MATCHUP
Teams:Â UNC Asheville (13-19, 4-5 Big South) at High Point (16-15, 5-7 Big South)
Location:Â High Point, N.C. / Williard Stadium
When: Thursday, April 13 – 6 PM / Friday, April 14 – 7 PM / Saturday, April 15 – 2 PM
Live Video:Â Big South Network (Thursday and Saturday); ESPN3 (Friday)
ESPN3 Talent: Mike Hogewood (PxP), Jay Sonnhalter (Analyst)
Live Stats:Â www.uncabulldogs.com
Twitter:Â @ashevilledogs #ThePursuit
BULLDOG BITES
BULLDOG BASEBALL ON THE ESPN FAMILY OF NETWORKS: The UNC Asheville baseball team will be featured on the ESPN family of networks and the WatchESPN App for the second time this season. The Bulldogs will take on High Point on ESPN3, Friday, April 14, with first pitch scheduled for 7:02 p.m. Mike Hogewood will provide play-by-play with Jay Sonnhalter serving as the analyst.
INSIDE THE SERIES: UNC Asheville is 24-31 against High Point dating back to the 1992 season. The Bulldogs claimed the first five meetings between the two from 1992 to 2000. As Big South Conference foes, the Panthers own a 30-17 regular-season record over the Bulldogs. In High Point, the Bulldogs are 9-18 against the Panthers.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: High Point enters the weekend 17-15 overall, 9-7 at home and 5-7 in Big South Conference play. As a team, the Panthers are hitting .263 while allowing opponents to hit .265. High Point is led by Blake Schunk's .392 batting average, but he has missed seven games this season. He is tied with Carson Jackson for tops on the team with 10 doubles, but Jackson leads the team with 16 extra-base hits. Jackson, who is hitting .297, is second on the team with six home runs and 20 RBIs but leads the squad with 28 runs scored. Austen Zente leads the team with 25 runs batted in, seven home runs and a .544 slugging percentage. Zente is second to Josh Greene in stolen bases with 11 compared to 15 by Greene. On the mound, the High Point pitching corps boasts a 5.05 ERA. The Panthers' weekend starting rotation features Andrew Gottfried, Drew Daczkowski and Trevor Holloway. All three have pitched over 38 innings with Daczowski leading the team with 40 strikeouts. Gottfried is 2-2 on the year with a 4.03 ERA, Daczkowski is 2-3 with a 4.17 ERA and Holloway is also 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA.
WEEKEND ROTATION: This weekend's starting rotation will look a little different as the Bulldogs will turn to a different first-day starter in Derek Smith. Thursday will mark the first start of his career. Smith has pitched 5.2 innings and struck out seven batters in three appearances of relief work this season. Greg Gasparro will be making his seventh start of the year on Friday. The freshman lefty has pitched 38.2 innings and is 2-2 on the year with 30 strikeouts, second-most on the squad. Spencer Orr will make his team-best ninth start on Saturday. The senior southpaw is 1-3 on the year, but boasts a 2.91 ERA in 46.1 innings of work. Orr has struck out a team-best 42 batters, the most he has retired in a single season in his career. High Point will turn to three right-handers this weekend: Jeremy Johnson on Thursday, Drew Daczkowski on Friday and Trevor Holloway in the series finale on Saturday.
TURNING DOUBLE PLAYS: UNC Asheville boasts 33 double plays on the year, an average of just over 1.03 per game. That total equals the number of double players turned all of last season by the Bulldogs. UNC Asheville is currently tied for 21st in the nation for total double plays turned and is tied for 28th in the country for double plays per game.
SHOWING IMPROVEMENT: At this point last season, the 2016 Bulldogs were 9-23 and had two series wins to their credit. This season, UNC Asheville has shown solid improvements as they are 13-19 with series wins over Iona, UMBC and Presbyterian as well as taking two of three during the tournament in Spartanburg in the second weekend of the year. The 2016 Bulldogs had also been swept three times to this point last season and had suffered through a 10-game losing skid whereas this year's Bulldogs have taken at least one game in each of their weekend series, and had opportunities to claim three of their dropped series.
CANNONS FOR ARMS IN THE OUTFIELD: UNC Asheville boasts 13 outfield assists on the year. The mark has the Bulldogs third in the country in the category. Joe Tietjen leads the outfielders with four assists, a mark that has him tied for fifth in the nation. Danny Wilson and Justin Woods both have three assists in the outfield. Kyle Carruthers has two and Tanner Bush has one.
TIETJEN LEAVING HIS MARK: Senior center fielder Joe Tietjen has moved into the top-10 in program history in six offensive categories with plenty of time to continue moving up this year. Tietjen is tied for fifth in UNC Asheville history with 38 career stolen bases. He is also in sole possession of eighth all-time in runs scored with 127. Tietjen is ninth in runs batted in with 112 and is tied for ninth with 37 career doubles. He is also in sole possession of 10th all-time with 20 career home runs and is tied for 10th with six triples.
NEXT MARKS TO REACH: Joe Tietjen needs just one more stolen base to claim sole possession of fifth all-time in swiped bases and is seven away from fourth. He is just one run scored away from seventh and six away from sixth in the category. With his next double, Tietjen will be in sole possession of ninth all-time in the category and needs six more to reach a two-way tie for seventh. His next triple will move him into a tie for sixth all-time. He is just one home run away from ninth all-time and is eight runs batted in away from moving into a tie for eighth.
ORR MOWING THEM DOWN: Spencer Orr was spectacular for UNC Asheville on Sunday, April 9, leading the Bulldogs to a 2-1 victory over Charleston Southern. The senior southpaw pitched seven scoreless innings of two-hit baseball and struck out a season-high nine batters. He struck out two batters in three different innings, including both the first and second as well as the fourth. Orr held his 26 batters faced to a .083 batting average and walked just one. For the season, Orr is sixth in the league with a 2.91 ERA, eighth with 46.1 innings pitched and tied for eighth with 42 batters struck out.
HITTING STREAKS TO WATCH: Danny Wilson stretched his current hitting streak out to seven games Tuesday night and Joe Tietjen has now garnered a hit in the last four games. Justin Woods boasts the longest hitting streak of the season as he started the year off with eight games in a row where he registered at least one hit. Earlier this year, Tietjen had a stretch of seven games with at least one hit.
EFFECTIVE PINCH HITTER: Joe Zayatz saw just three pitches on Sunday, April 9, but it was the third one that proved to be the payoff pitch for him as he ripped a two-out single through the right side that gave Chris Troost just enough time to round third and race home, giving the UNC Asheville Baseball team a 2-1 victory in walk-off fashion over Charleston Southern at Greenwood Field.
LAST TIME OUT (vs. Wofford, 4/11/17): Wofford scored 12 runs in the top of the fourth inning Tuesday night and used the momentum to take a 17-8 win over the UNC Asheville baseball team at Greenwood Field Tuesday evening. The Terriers also scored one run in the first and four in the sixth to account for the 17 runs. Of the 17 runs scored, only six were earned. After going down 1-0 in the first, UNC Asheville answered in a big way with five runs in the bottom of the second. Freshman catcher Joe Gruszka led off the scoring drive by reaching safely off a fielding error by the Wofford second baseman. He then promptly stole second and then moved around to third off a Brandon Lankford single to left-center field. Jake Madole capitalized on Gruszka being in scoring position with a single through the right side that knotted the score at 1-1. A couple of batters later, Joe Tietjen drew a walk to load the bases and Chris Troost then ripped the second pitch he saw to left-center field, scoring Lankford and Madole. Danny Wilson, who made his first start on the mound this season, capped off the scoring drive with a two-RBI double down the left field line, scoring Tietjen and Troost. After going down 17-5, the Bulldogs settled back down and shut down the Terrier offense while scoring single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames, including a solo home run by Tietjen in the bottom of the ninth. The home run was the sixth of the season for Tietjen and the 20th of his career, giving him sole possession of 10th all-time in program history. Troost had the most prolific offensive outing for Asheville as he went 3-for-5 with a run scored and two runs batted in. Wilson had three runs batted in and Lankford joined fellow freshman Troost as the only two Bulldogs with multiple hits in the game as he went 2-for-3 with a run scored and one batted in. Wilson started the game on the mound for UNC Asheville and pitched two complete innings where he gave up just one earned run and three hits. The Bulldogs then turned to Kole Harris, Blake Brown, Justin Woods, Ryan Tapp, Jesse Juday, Austin Fahr and Brandon Harris to close out the game. Woods (2-1) was saddled with his first loss of the season. Kole Harris struck out a team-best three batters as he retired three Terriers in order in the third. Chris Sheehan (3-0) was the starter and pitcher of record for Wofford, going 5.0 innings that saw him give up no earned runs.
UP NEXT: UNC Asheville will play eight of the next nine games on the road, beginning this weekend with a three-game Big South Conference series at High Point. Following the series with the Panthers, the Bulldogs will return home on Tuesday, April 18, for a midweek game at Greenwood Field against USC Upstate before hitting the road again for five straight road games beginning on Wednesday, April 19, at Tennessee.
FIRST CAREER HOME RUNS: Joe Gruszka came in to pinch hit for UNC Asheville in the top of the ninth against Richmond on Sunday, April 2, and made the most of his at-bat, ripping a two-run home run to left field. The homer was the first of his collegiate career. He joined Jake Madole, Brandon Lankford, Kole Harris and Tyler Serricchio as players who have hit their first collegiate homer so far this season.
WOODS SAVING THE DAY: Justin Woods recorded his fourth save of the season on Friday, March 24, against Presbyterian as he pitched the final inning in the Bulldogs' 4-2 victory over the Blue Hose. He is tied for fourth in the Big South Conference with his four saves on the year.
TAKE A LITTLE OFF THE TOP: Win the game, lose the hair. That was the recipe for success on Wednesday, March 29, as the UNC Asheville baseball team worked to raise donations for a special cause in an attempt to capture a bigger victory than the 5-3 win over Western Carolina at McCormick Field. The Bulldogs held their annual Vs. Cancer Game at the historic baseball venue located in downtown Asheville. It was the fifth year of the event and it was possibly the biggest one yet. Over the previous four years, UNC Asheville baseball has raised close to $24,000. As of the most recent count, the Bulldogs had collected over $9,200 in 2017 alone, with hopes to add to that total throughout the rest of the season. The over $9,200 raised has UNC Asheville currently fifth in the nation amongst baseball programs that are raising money for the worthy cause of battling childhood cancer. The money raised will be donated to the Vs. Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Raleigh. The foundation, which operates on a 50/50 model of giving, raises funds for childhood cancer research as well as helps children live more comfortably during treatments at local children's hospitals. Vs. Cancer gives half of the proceeds raised to pediatric brain tumor research and the other half goes back to a local hospital in the community where the money was raised. For UNC Asheville, that is Mission Children's Hospital.
BACK-TO-BACK SERIES WINS: When UNC Asheville won the first game of a doubleheader against UMBC on Saturday, March 11, it marked the first time since the 2012 season that the Bulldogs had won back-to-back weekend series. The 7-6 walk-off win over UMBC gave UNC Asheville a 2-1 series win over the Retrievers. The weekend before, the Bulldogs won the series 2-1 over Iona. The last time the Asheville baseball program strung together multiple weekend series was the 2012 campaign. The 2012 Bulldogs won three straight weekend series, including 2-1 over Liberty, a clean sweep (3-0) on the road at High Point and 2-1 at College of Charleston.
NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE: The Bulldogs turned a rare 1-3-5-6 triple play in the bottom of the first inning at Appalachian State on Wednesday, March 8. It is just the second triple play to be turned in NCAA Division I this season as George Washington turned one earlier this year. It is also the second triple play in as many years in the Big South Conference as Gardner-Webb turned the only triple play in Division I last season.
YOUNG SQUAD: The Bulldogs' starting lineup has featured 12 players who are either freshmen or sophomores to start the year. Freshmen Chris Troost, Brandon Lankford, Kole Harris, Joe Gruszka, Jake Madole, Tyler Serricchio and Greg Gasparro have all contributed in the starting lineup very early. Sophomores Carmine Pagano, Andrew Friedholm, Danny Wilson, Austin Fahr and Ryan Tapp have all picked up where they left off as freshmen and are beginning to see their roles increase as well.
MOVING RUNNERS ACROSS THE PLATE: Senior center fielder Joe Tietjen moved seven runners across the plate on Friday, Feb. 24, against Dayton, coming up just two shy of the individual single-game school record. Tietjen had a double and a home run to help his efforts. He also had two other hits that came close to clearing the fence. One was just foul and the other came up just short of the center field fence.
LANKFORD NAMED BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (2/27): After a stellar week in Spartanburg, UNC Asheville baseball true freshman Brandon Lankford was named the Big South Conference's Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference office Monday, Feb. 27. Lankford's honor marks the second week in a row that a UNC Asheville freshman has earned the honor and gives UNC Asheville a sweep of the award in the first two weeks of its existence. Last week, fellow true freshman Chris Troost earned the first-ever Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week honors for baseball in the Big South. Lankford led the Bulldogs to a 2-2 record this past week in Spartanburg. Over the course of the Bulldogs' four games, he batted a team-best .389 with an outstanding .833 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage. He led the team with four extra base knocks, including two home runs and two doubles. The third baseman from Mocksville, N.C., had multiple hits in all but one game last week and also had at least one RBI in each game. He scored seven runs himself, including the game-winner Sunday to lift Asheville over Wofford 7-6, and batted in six others. In the field, he recorded a putout and nine assists for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. In Wednesday's game at USC Upstate, Lankford started the scoring drive for the Bulldogs with a double to score Carmine Pagano, putting Asheville up 1-0. On Friday against Dayton, his single through the left side to score fellow freshman Kole Harris in the top of the second inning put the Bulldogs ahead of the Flyers for good. He then scored the first of his two runs of that game when Joe Tietjen doubled to left field. His second run of the game came when Tietjen ripped a home run to center field. In the game against the Flyers, Lankford went 2-for-4 at the plate and drew two walks. In the weekend finale at Wofford, Lankford went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. In the fourth inning, he scored off a Danny Wilson double down the right field line. Then, in the eighth inning, Lankford hit his third home run of the season, second of the week, scoring last week's Big South Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week Troost. He ended his week by scoring the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning when fellow freshman Joe Gruszka was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
TROOST NAMED FIRST-EVER BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (2/20): UNC Asheville baseball true freshman Chris Troost was named the first-ever Big South Conference's Come Ready Nutrition Freshman of the Week as announced by the conference office Monday, Feb. 20. Troost led the way offensively for Asheville during the opening weekend series at Samford. The 5-8 Medford, N.J., native batted .444 through the three-game series and boasted an on-base percentage of .615 while scoring a run and batting in another. He showed enough improvement over the weekend to move up from the seven-hole of the lineup to the two-hole. In the season-opener on Friday, Troost showed a lot of patience in the batter's box to draw three walks compared to just one strikeout and also had an RBI. In Sunday's series finale, Troost went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and also drew another walk. He scored his run in the ninth inning to add an important insurance run, helping Asheville defeat Samford 6-4 for the first win of the season.
TIETJEN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE BY PERFECT GAME: UNC Asheville baseball player Joe Tietjen has been named to the Perfect Game Preseason Big South All-Conference Team by the staff of Perfect Game and was listed in the top-five of the top prospects of the conference for this year's graduating class. A senior outfielder from Waxhaw, N.C., Tietjen was named to the Big South All-Conference Second Team following the 2016 season. During his junior campaign, he led the team in nine offensive statistical categories, including batting average (.344), runs scored (44), hits (74), home runs (10) and stolen bases (12). He also boasted a .553 slugging percentage, batted in 55 runs and collected 119 total bases in 215 at bats. For his career, Tietjen boasts a .306 batting average, has scored 101 runs, collected 145 hits and has driven in 90 runs. He has also swiped 23 bases and has 342 putouts in the field.
QUOTABLES
"We're changing up the lineup a little bit on the mound this weekend with Derek Smith starting on Thursday, Greg Gasparro starting Friday and Spencer Orr continuing to lead off on Sunday. With it being a short week this week for both Greg and Spencer, we are interested to see how they respond. They have to do a good job for us early on so that the offense can get going and you saw that last Sunday against Charleston Southern. We were able to give the offense a couple of good innings to get into the game and it gave us a better chance of winning. If we can get a similar start from our pitching staff, then hopefully our offense will continue to work to create some runs." – Scott Friedholm
On the short week for the pitching staff
"If you look back to last weekend, we kept close tabs on how long we threw both Brandon Harris and Greg last weekend. That was by design with this shorter week coming up so that both of those freshmen could adjust and get rested. The only pitcher we haven't shortened recently has been Spencer and the main reason is because he's a senior with a more mature arm and he has a better feel for what he needs to do with a week like this." – Scott Friedholm
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