GREENSBORO, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team picked up a 7-4 win on the road at UNC Greensboro on Wednesday night in Greensboro, N.C. The win is HPU’s fifth in six games as the Panthers improve to 5-4 on the season.
“We didn’t play a pretty ballgame today but the win makes it worthwhile,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “We have some things to work on. This team is still developing, but I am encouraged that we can go on the road and win a game even when we don’t play our best brand of baseball.”
Freshman Cas Silber improved to 1-0 on the season, earning the win out of the bullpen with two innings of work. Silber allowed one run on three walks while striking out two. Senior John Maloney
HPU starter Alex Grossed pitched 2-2/3 innings in his pitching debut. Gross allowed one earned run on four hits and two walks while striking out two.
UNC Greensboro starter Andrew George was charged with the loss after pitching 4-2/3 innings and allowing four earned runs on five hits and five walks while striking out four. The Spartans drop to 2-5 on the season with the loss.
The Panthers took an early lead and they struck for three runs in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Tim Mansfield led off the game with a triple to right and scored on an RBI groundout by junior Spencer Angelis. After sophomore Dominic Fazio and junior Tony Fortier-Bensen both reached with two outs, junior Cody Manzella hit a bloop single that dropped between three UNCG fielders in shallow right, allowing both HPU runners to score.
The score remained 3-0 until the bottom of the third inning when the Spartans pushed across a run on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Hunter King. After a pop out to first, the Spartans reloaded the bases with a walk but freshman Chris Clare made a diving grab on a liner by Sean Guite to end the inning.
Clare pushed the Panther lead back to three in the top of the fourth with an RBI single to make the score 4-1. Fortier-Bensen led off the inning with a single and was bunted over to second before scoring on the Clare single.
After UNC Greensboro scored a run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI groundout by Aaron Wright, the Panthers came right back with a run on an RBI single by Angelis to make the score 5-2 in the top of the sixth. Redshirt-junior Blake Hutton hit a two-out double to right and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a bloop single by Angelis.
The Panthers added an insurance run one inning later on an RBI single by senior Kyle Brandenburg to make the score 6-2. The HPU third baseman hit a hard shot down the right field line to plate McDermott from second.
UNC Greensboro tacked on two runs in the eighth inning on an RBI single by King. The single dipped away from the sliding Fortier-Bensen to score both Jake Kusz and Zac MacAneney to make the score 6-4.
The Panthers scored a final run in the top of the ninth to make the final 7-4. Hutton picked up an RBI when he was hit with the bases loaded to score McDermott from third.
Clare had a team-high three hits in the game for the Panthers, going 3-5 with an RBI on the day. Fazio also finished with multiple hits for HPU, going 2-5 with a run scored. Five players picked up an RBI in the game including Angelis and Manzella who each finished with two on the night.
MacAneney went 3-5 with two runs scored for UNC Greensboro while King finished 1-3 with three RBI.
High Point heads down the road to play in the Elon Invitational in Burlington, N.C., this weekend. The Panthers will open the weekend with a non-conference game against fellow Big South squad Gardner-Webb on Friday and will then play host Elon on Saturday and Saint Joseph’s on Sunday.