HPU Baseball Drops Rubber Match to Campbell, 7-2

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team dropped the final game of its three-game series against No. 29 Campbell by a score of 7-2 on Sunday afternoon at Williard Stadium. Sophomore Dane McDermott went 1-3 with an RBI to lead the Panthers.

“This series was pretty simple to explain,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “On Friday night they made the errors and put guys on base and we won. The last two games we made more errors and lost the freebie war. We still have a lot to do in the league with two more series. Our biggest concern is to recover our offensive rhythm. We are not swinging the bat the way we are capable of right now. If we accomplish that we will be just fine.”

Campbell jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of the first inning as Ben McQuown led off the game with a single and came around to score on an error by McDermott and Elijah Trail hit a sacrifice fly.

The Panthers got a run back in the bottom of second when senior Ryan Retz scored on a throwing error by the Campbell shortstop. Retz was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to third on a walk to freshman Dominic Fazio and a sacrifice bunt. McDermott then hit a hard chopper to Campbell shortstop Brent Graham who bounced his throw to first allowing Retz to score.

Two innings later McDermott tied the game at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly to score Fazio. The freshman walked to lead off the game and moved to third on a single by sophomore Mike Miedzianowski and a comebacker to the mound before scoring on the McDermott fly ball.

The tie was short lived as Campbell came right back with a run in the top of the fifth to take the lead for good. After two quick outs, Graham hit a double down the left field line and came around to score on an RBI single from Michael Felton to put the Camels ahead 3-2.

Campbell would tack on two runs in the seventh and two runs in the ninth to pull away for the 7-2 win.

Redshirt-junior Malcolm Clapsaddle pitched well in a losing effort for High Point. Clapsaddle went six innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits while striking out four.

Matt Marksberry got the win out of the bullpen, pitching 3-1/3 innings and allowing one run on two hits and two walks. Ryan Thompson pitched the final three innings to earn his eighth save of the season.

High Point drops to 23-24 overall and 10-8 in the Big South with the loss. Campbell moves to 39-9 overall and 16-5 in the Big South.

High Point will play two road games during the midweek starting with a game at North Carolina Central on Tuesday, May 7. First pitch in the game is set for 6 p.m.