HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY 2017 HPU Baseball Prospectus & Record Book 2017 HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY BASEBALL Contents Quick Facts Contents/Quick Facts..................................................1 High Point University Season Preview ........................................................ 2-3 Location .................................................................................High Point, N.C. Head Coach Craig Cozart ...........................................4 Founded .................................................................................................... 1924 Roster ..........................................................................5 Enrollment ............................................................................................... 4,600 2017 Schedule .............................................................6 Nickname.............................................................................................Panthers 2016 Results ................................................................7 Colors ....................................................................................Purple and White 2016 Statistics ......................................................... 8-9 Conference ................................................................ Big South (NCAA Div. I) 2016 Situational Statistics ................................... 10-11 President ..................................................... Dr. Nido Qubein (High Point ’70) 2016 Miscellaneous Statistics ....................................12 Athletic Director ....................................... Dan Hauser (Appalachian State ’92) 2016 Big South Review ....................................... 13-14 Player Career Statistics ......................................... 15-16 Team Information Awards, Honors ................................................... 17-18 2016 Overall Record ................................................................................32-24 Annual Hitting, Pitching Stats ..................................19 2016 Big South Record ............................................................................14-10 Year-by-Year Leaders ..................................................20 2016 Big South Finish ................................................................................. 2nd All-Time Records ................................................ 21-25 2016 Postseason ..................................................... 1-2 Big South Tournament Single-Game Records ................................................26 Letterwinners Returning/Lost...................................................................19/12 Year-By-Year Results ............................................ 27-30 Position Starters Returning/Lost ...................................................................6/2 Big South Series Breakdowns ............................... 31-32 Pitchers Returning/Lost ................................................................................8/7 Year-by-Year Coaching Records .................................33 Newcomers ................................................................................................... 15 First year of baseball .................................................................................. 1933 Carson Jackson Program record ..............................................................................1402-1309-5 Baseball Staff Head Coach ...........................Craig Cozart (Central Florida ’96), ninth season Career record ...................................................................................227-225 HPU record .....................................................................................227-225 Assistant Coach ................. Kenny Smith (Western Carolina ’07), fourth season Assistant Coach ............................. Jason Laws (Murray State ’10), third season Volunteer Asst. Coach .........................Pat Long (Georgia Tech ’10), first season Athletic Trainer ..................................Robbie Adams (Radford ’16), first season Strength & Conditioning .........Andrew Crossley (Tennessee ’04), fourth season Stadium Information Facility .......................Coy O. Williard Baseball Stadium/George S. Erath Field Capacity ...................................................................................................... 550 Playing Surface .............................................................................Natural Grass Dimensions ................................................................ LF 325, CF 400, RF 330 Athletic Communications Staff Associate AD/Comm:......................................Tom Fenstermaker (Towson ’08) Office/Cell phone: .......................................... (336) 841-4605/(336) 259-1708 Email: ...........................................................................tfenster@highpoint.edu Director of Athletic Comm./Baseball Contact: ........Joe Arancio (American ’07) Office/Cell phone: .......................................... (336) 841-4638/(336) 884-2100 Email: ..........................................................................jarancio@highpoint.edu Assistant Dir.: ............................................................ Cory McCune (Ohio ’13) Office/Cell phone: .......................................... (336) 841-4640/(336) 848-4222 Email: .........................................................................cmccune@highpoint.edu Multimedia Coordinator: .................................Patrick Norwood (Alabama ’14) Office/Cell phone: .......................................... (336) 841-4540/(336) 848-9148 Email: ...................................................................... [email protected] Mailing Address: ....................................................... Sports Information Office .................................................................................One University Parkway ................................................................................High Point, N.C. 27268 Website: ............................................................... www.highpointpanthers.com WWW.HIGHPOINTPANTHERS.COM 1 HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY 2017 HPU Baseball Prospectus & Record Book Big South 2017 Season Preview Preseason Poll The High Point University baseball team has been steadily Rk. Team (first) Points rising to the top of the Big South and the Panthers are poised to 1. High Point (4) 92 break through in 2017 as they look to claim their first conference 2. Campbell (2) 81 crown in program history. 3. Liberty (2) 78 High Point posted its fourth consecutive record of .500 or 4. Winthrop 63 better in 2016, finishing 32-24 overall on the season. It was the 5. Longwood (1) 61 second-most wins in a Div. I season in program history for the 6. Gardner-Webb (1) 59 Purple & White. The Panthers went 14-10 in the Big South and 7. Radford 50 finished tied for second in the conference, their third top-three 8. Presbyterian College 32 finish in four seasons. Hunter Lee 9. Charleston Southern 19 Junior Chris Clare and senior Dominic Fazio led the HPU 10. UNC Asheville 15 offense as Clare earned first-team All-Big South recognition after leading the Purple & White with a .345 batting average, 77 hits Preseason Player of the Year and 39 runs scored. Fazio enjoyed a breakout season in his final Collin Thacker, Gardner-Webb collegiate campaign, hitting .325 with a team-high 16 doubles and 42 RBI to earn second-team All-Big South honors. Freshman Preseason Pitcher of the Year Andrew Gottfried emerged as one of the top pitchers in the HPU rotation and was named second-team All-Conference after hitters. Matt Crohan, Winthrop finishing his first season with a 6-5 record and a 2.65 ERA, tops Four other players that will compete for starts primarily in among HPU starters. the midweek are senior Peter Ripke, sophomore Cooper Jeffers and Despite losing Clare to the MLB draft and Fazio to freshmen Kirby Osborn and Muhammed Eid. Ripke has performed graduation, the Panthers still boast a potent group of position as a midweek starter and long arm out of the pen for three years players with sixstarters returning. Seniors Josh Greene and Tim with the Panthers. Last season, he appeared in 10 games and went Mansfield are back in the outfield along with juniors Austen Zente 2-0 with a 4.60 ERA. Jeffers appeared in 12 games with six starts and Carson Jackson, who will move to the outfield after playing first in his freshman season, finishing with a 2-2 record and a 5.14 base last season. Junior Hunter Lee will once again man second base ERA. Osborn is a right-hander from Land O’ Lakes, Fla. He went for the Purple & White and the pair of junior Spencer Brown and 9-1 in 11 starts as a senior with a 0.86 ERA and 82 strikeouts in sophomore JJ Woodard will handle the catching duties for HPU. 73-1/3 innings. Eid is a right-hander from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., On the mound, Gottfried is the lone returning All-Conference who will be a key swingman for the Panthers providing valuable pitcher in the Big South and he will lead a young Panther rotation innings both as a starter and as a reliever. this season. BULLPEN The top of the Big South is wide open following the departure of defending national champion Coastal Carolina to the Sun The back-end of the HPU bullpen will have a different Belt. High Point was selected first in the Big South Preseason look this season following the graduation of four-year closer Joe Coaches Poll with four first-place votes. It is the first time that