HPU Men’s Baseball Falls in 12 Innings at Tulane

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The High Point University baseball lost the final game of its three-game series at Tulane by a score of 11-10 in 12 innings on Sunday afternoon in New Orleans, La. The game was the first of the season for the Panthers to go to extra innings.

“You can go back to a lot of instances and missed chances that led to this being an extra inning affair,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “What we need to focus on is the energy level that we played with which was outstanding all weekend. We will learn from this and it will pay dividends at the end of the season. I am disappointed that we weren’t able to win the series but I am proud of our guys and the effort they showed.”

High Point jumped out to a three-run lead in the top of the second inning. Freshman Dominic Fazio was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and was followed by senior Ryan Retz who hit a double to the left field corner. Senior Devin Bujnovsky drove in Fazio with a double to the right corner and freshman Sly Edwards hit a single to left to plate both Retz and Bujnovsky.

The Panthers added a run in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by Fazio. Senior Sean Wilson hit a single up the middle and took second on a passed ball before coming around to score on the single to left by Fazio.

After Tulane scored once in the third and once in the fourth to close to within two runs, HPU scored twice in the top of the fifth to push its lead to 6-2. The Panthers loaded the bases with singles by junior Kyle Brandenburg and Medina and a walk by Spano. Senior Scott Glover pinch hit with two outs and hit a single to center to plate both Brandenburg and Medina.

Tulane scored four runs in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6, but the Panthers came right back to score four in the top of the sixth to go ahead 10-6. High Point got four RBI singles to score the four runs. Medina hit an RBI single to score Barry and was followed by three-straight singles to left by Spano, sophomore Cody Manzella and Retz which each drove in a run.

Tulane tied the game once again with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 10-10. Richard Carthon hit an RBI single to drive in the first two runs for the Green Wave which also got an RBI single by Blake Crohan and an RBI walk by Andrew Garner to drive in the tying run.

The game remained knotted up until the bottom of the 12th when Sean Potkey led off with a double to center and scored the game-winning run on a single by Tim Yendal to left.

Maloney took the loss for High Point in spite of a strong performance in relief. The junior pitched 5-2.3 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and a walk. Senior Jared Avidon got the start for the Panthers and pitched 4-1/3 innings. The right hander allowed six earned runs on nine hits and three walks while striking out one.

Ian Gibaut pitched five scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Tulane to pick up the win. The freshman held HPU to just three hits and a walk while striking out three.

Six different players had two hits for High Point including Edwards who went 2-5 with two RBI. Medina, Retz, Manzella, Barry and Brandenburg all finished with multi-hit games for HPU.

The Panthers drop to 7-9 overall on the season while Tulane improves to 9-8.

High Point returns to action on Wednesday, March 13, when the team will head to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take on No. 4 North Carolina. First pitch in the game is scheduled for 6 p.m.