HPU Baseball Falls to UNC Asheville by a Score of 7-1

HIGH POINT, N.C. – A five-run fifth inning by the visiting UNC Asheville Bulldogs doomed the High Point University baseball team as the Panthers dropped a 7-1 decision to UNCA on Saturday night at Willard Stadium. Sean Wilson scored HPU’s only run with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first.

Matt Armstead took the loss for HPU, dropping his record to 3-4 for the season. Armstead went 4-2/3 innings and allowed four runs, all earned, on seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

Ryan Dull went eight innings and allowed just one run to pick up his fourth win of the season. Dull allowed just four hits and had five strikeouts in his eight innings of work.

The loss drops HPU to .500 for the season with a 23-23 overall record. The Panthers fall to 8-9 in Big South play. UNC Asheville improved to 21-23 overall and 10-10 in Big South play with the win.

For the second-straight game High Point took the first lead of the game in the bottom of the first inning as redshirt-junior Sean Wilson led off the Panther half of the frame with a home run over the left field wall. The home run was the first of Wilson’s High Point career and the first leadoff home run for HPU this season.

Asheville tied the game in the top of the second inning when Patrick Koontz got a hold of an offering from Armstead and sent it into the Panther’s Den in right-center field to make the score 1-1.

The game remained tied until the top of the fifth when the Bulldogs managed to score five runs with two outs to open a 6-1 lead. Cody Buch and Todd Joyner picked up the big hits on the inning as Buch had a two RBI single and Joyner followed with a two-RBI double down the right field line.

The Bulldogs pushed their lead to six, 7-1 in the top of the eighth inning with their sixth two-out run of the game as Jordan Lurie drove in Cody Adkins with a single to the right-center gap.

Asheville’s 2-5 hitters combined to go 8-19 from the plate, scoring five of the Bulldogs’ seven runs in the contest.

High Point will conclude its series against UNC Asheville on Sunday at 1 p.m. Junior Jacob Newberry will pitch for the Panthers. Senior Nick Schumacher will be honored before the game.