HPU Baseball Picks Up a 7-5 Win Over William & Mary in 10 Innings

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Senior Scott Glover ripped a two-RBI double in the 10th inning to propel the High Point University baseball team to a 7-5 win over William & Mary on Friday night in Williamsburg, Va. Glover hit a line drive down the right field line to score two with two outs.

“This was a tough road win against a quality team tonight,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “Scott Glover did what he does best and came up with a big hit off the bench for us. The maturity of this team really showed up tonight. We did some things late that could have cost us the game but we kept our composure. Our pitching was solid and both Josh Spano and Devin Bujnovsky had good nights at the plate. Hopefully this momentum carries us into tomorrow.”

After two quick outs by the Panthers in the 10th, graduate student Adam Barry singled and sophomore Cody Manzella worked a walk to give HPU two base runners with two outs. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third for Glover who was pinch hitting for junior Kyle Brandenburg. The senior took two pitched before calmly lacing a 1-1 pitch down the line to plate both runners and give High Point a 7-5 lead.

The win was High Point’s first in extra innings this season. HPU played one previous extra inning game this season, losing to Tulane in 12 innings, 11-10.

High Point improves to 14-12 overall with the win over the Tribe. The loss ends an eight-game win streak by William & Mary which falls to 18-9 on the season.

High Point opened the game with a run in the top of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Sophomore Josh Spano hit a single up the middle, moved to third on a single to right by sophomore Spencer Angelis and scored on a bloop single over the first baseman’s head by senior Ryan Retz.

Senior Devin Bujnovsky put the Panthers up 3-0 in the next inning with an RBI single. Manzella and Brandenburg each singled with one out, giving HPU runners at first and second. Bujnovsky hit a line drive single to right for a single and the Tribe fielder misplayed the ball allowing it to roll to the fence. Both base runners scored on the play.

HPU scored two more runs and pushed its lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI double by Spano. Manzella led off the frame with a single and Brandenburg beat out a bunt to give the Panthers runners at first and second. Medina bunted both runners over and Spano hit a hard line drive to the left field wall to score both.

William & Mary scored once in the bottom of the fourth to trim the deficit to 5-1. The Tribe then scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 5-5. All four Tribe runs were unearned thanks to two HPU errors in the inning. The big hit for William & Mary was a bases-loaded triple by Ryan Lindemuth.

High Point finished with 17 hits in the game and had six players record multi-hit games. Bujnovsky went 3-6 with two RBI to lead the High Point offense. Spano went 2-5 with two RBI and a run scored and Manzella finished 2-3 with a career-high three runs scored.

All seven runs scored by High Point came with two outs. The Panthers now have 68 two-out RBI this season in 26 games.

Sophomore Joe Goodman picked up his first win of the season for High Point. Goodman pitched 1-1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits while striking out one. Redshirt-junior Malcolm Clapsaddle earned his team-high fourth save with a scoreless 10th inning.

John Sheehan took the loss after allowing two runs in 2-1/3 innings for William & Mary.

High Point and William & Mary will meet once again on Saturday, March 30, for the second of three games this weekend. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.