Baseball Opens League Play on Friday at High Point

Friday's Game has been Moved Up to 2 P.M.

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team is set to begin Big South play on Friday with a road weekend in High Point at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. The series continues on Saturday at 6 p.m. before the series finale at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ on Sunday afternoon.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (7-11) at High Point (6-10)
WHERE: Williard Stadium (High Point, N.C.)
WHEN: 2 p.m. (Fri.) | 6 p.m. (Sat.) | 1 p.m. (Sun.)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): HPU Leads 21-13

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Sidearm Stats (All Three Games)
VIDEO: ESPN+ (Fri) | ESPN+ (Sun.)
LIVE AUDIO: Fox Sports Spartanburg (98.3 FM, 1400 AM)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

ON THE MOUND
Friday
PC – RHP Duncan Howard (0-1, 5.18 ERA, 18 K)
HPU – LHP Sam Garcia (0-3, 5.03 ERA, 21 K)

Saturday
PC –  RHP Fenix DiGiacomo (2-2, 5.57 ERA, 14 K)
HPU – LHP Brett Wozniak (1-0, 5.40 ERA, 10 K)

Sunday
PC –  LHP Charlie McDaniel (1-3, 8.55 ERA, 20 K)
HPU – RHP Gus Hughes (2-2, 5.16 ERA, 30 K)

About the Blue Hose
• The Blue Hose continue their road swing on Friday opening league against High Point. PC fell in both road non-conference matchups this week against #16 South Carolina and Duke. HPU dropped a midweek battle at North Carolina.

Scouting the Panthers
• High Point comes in with a 6-10 record following a midweek defeat at North Carolina. The Panthers have battled Alabama and Louisiana in non-conference play with the Panthers picking up a win agianst the Ragin Cajuns.
• HPU is led offensively by Adam Stuart who's hitting at a .317 clip with three doubles and three homers with 12 RBIs. Brett Ahalt checks in with a .302 average totaling five homers while Cael Chatham is also at .302 with six big flies. Blake Sutton leads the Panthers in homers with eight thus far.
• On the mound, Everett Vaughan has allowed one earned run in 4.2 innings. CJ Neese has allowed one earned run in 4.1 innings over five outings for the Panthers. Gus Hughes leads the way for High Point wiht 30 strikeouts.

Head to Head vs High Point
• High Point leads the all-time series over the Blue Hose by the record of 21-13 with the last two series being sweeps for the two teams. HPU earned a sweep last year in Clinton to close out the regular season with PC earning a sweep at High Point the year prior.

Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Jack Gorman begins league play tied for fourth in the conference with 22 hits on the season. Gorman is also tied for second in the league with seven doubles.
• Joel Dragoo and Brody Fahr are both tied for fifth in walks drawn with 14 apiece.
• Gibson and Tanner Smith are tied for third in the league with a pair of saves.
• Charlie McDaniel is third in the Big South with a 5.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. McDaniel is fourth in the conference with 1.8 walks allowed per nine innings.

Blue Hose Offense Pushes Past Broncos
• Behind a career-high five hits from junior Jack Gorman, the Presbyterian College baseball team earned a 17-11 midweek win on Tuesday night over Western Michigan at the PC Baseball Complex. Gorman finished with five hits, including a pair of doubles to pace the offense to the midweek victory.
• Dragoo tied for the program's DI record for walks as he drew four free passes in the contest.
• The 17 runs the Blue Hose scored on Tuesday marks the most scored by a PC team since last May when Presbyterian tallied 22 runs against CSU.
• The Blue Hose improved to 5-1 on the season, totaling 10+ hits following the 13 hits recorded in Tuesday's action.
• As a team, PC drew 14 walks in the victory marking the program's DI single-game record for walks drawn in a game.

McDaniel Earns Big South Co-Freshman of the Week Honors
• Following six shutout innings in his first college start on Wednesday, Presbyterian College baseball freshman Mason McDaniel (Sanford, Fla.) has been named the Big South Co-Freshman of the Week for games played Feb. 20-26, as announced by the conference office on Monday.
• McDaniel dazzled in his first college start against Western Carolina on Wednesday as the Blue Hose left-hander tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in the victory over the Catamounts. He scattered just two hits and two walks throughout his outing to get the win. In the start Wednesday, he tallied six strikeouts in the first four innings while only allowing one hit and totaling three innings of three up and three down. McDaniel worked around a pair of baserunners in the fifth without harm before getting his final strikeout in the sixth to earn his first collegiate win.

Newcomers Getting PC Early Victories
• On Saturday, Blue Hose pitchers Fenix DiGiacomo and Luke Gibson started their Blue Hose careers strong as PC downed the Hoyas 5-2 in the middle game of the three-game weekend series. DiGiacomo got the ball rolling on Saturday with a start spanning 5.2 innings allowing four hits and one run en route to a victory in his PC debut. Gibson finished it off for the Blue Hose recording the final 10 outs allowing one solo home run and striking out four to earn the save. Gibson and DiGiacomo were teammates at Patrick Henry CC before coming to Clinton for the 2023 season. DiGiacomo added his second win of the season against Northwestern tossing six inning with two earned runs and seven strikeouts.
• In his first college start on Wednesday, PC was led by freshman Mason McDaniel tossing six scoreless innings to lead Presbyterian to a 3-0 win over Western Carolina. McDaniel struck out eight Catamounts en route to his first college win on Wednesday afternoon. In relief work on Saturday vs Georgia State, McDaniel pitched the ninth inning before PC rallied to get the win leading to his second win of the season.
• Kyle Mueller earned his first college win on Tuesday against Western Michigan as the freshman pitched three innings of relief as a part of the Blue Hose 17-11 win over the Broncos.

2023 Preseason Honors
• Catcher Dalton Reeves was named to the league's all-conference team as selected by Perfect Game.
• DI Baseball has tabbed a host of Blue Hose on the conference's top prospects in the next few drafts. RHP Duncan Howard, RHP Fenix DiGiacomo, Catcher Dalton Reeves, RHP Colbey Klepper, RHP Tanner Smith and OF Jay Wetherington were apart of the 2023 Draft Rankings.
• Joel Dragoo was tabbed by the publication in the 2024 Big South Prospect Rankings.
• Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson and Amman Dewberry were selected to the Impact Freshman in the league on the list by DI Baseball.

Newcomers Join the Blue Hose Family
• Head Coach Elton Pollock was busy in the offsesaon with the addition of 16 new faces to the Blue Hose family.
• The incoming class includes Evan Cuervo, Jay Allred, Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson, Travis Camp, William Nobles, Ryan Becker, Lorenzo Rios, Kyle Mueller, Luke Gibson, Tyler Mecchella, Fenix DiGiacomo, Mason McDaniel, Eli Bowery, Jeremiah Hampton, Amman Dewberry.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo: INF; 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R

#2 Brody Fahr: INF; 5' 11"; Junior; L/R

#1 Jack Gorman: INF; 5' 10"; Junior; R/R

#25 Duncan Howard: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#34 Colbey Klepper: RHP; 6' 4"; Senior; R/R

#31 Charlie McDaniel: LHP; 6' 3"; Junior; L/L

#32 Dalton Reeves: C; 6' 5"; Junior; L/R

#16 Tanner Smith: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#21 Jay Wetherington: OF; 5' 9"; Junior; L/L

#7 Evan Cuervo: OF; 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R

Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R
: INF

#2 Brody Fahr
: 5' 11"; Junior; L/R
: INF

#1 Jack Gorman
: 5' 10"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#25 Duncan Howard
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#34 Colbey Klepper
: 6' 4"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#31 Charlie McDaniel
: 6' 3"; Junior; L/L
: LHP

#32 Dalton Reeves
: 6' 5"; Junior; L/R
: C

#16 Tanner Smith
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#21 Jay Wetherington
: 5' 9"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#7 Evan Cuervo
: 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R
: OF