McGillicuddy Leads HPU Baseball To A 3-0 Win At Longwood

FARMVILLE, Va. – Junior John McGillicuddy threw his third complete-game shutout of the season to lead the High Point University baseball team to a 3-0 win over Longwood on Friday night in Farmville, Virginia.

“This was our style of baseball tonight,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “We got extra-base hits, two-out RBI and played great defense. John McGillicuddy does what he has a tendency to do on Friday nights on the mound. This was a great way to start the series but Longwood is going to keep playing hard so we need to find a way to go out and get the win tomorrow.”

McGillicuddy needed just 92 pitches to get through nine innings of work against the Lancers. The right-hander allowed six hits and two walks while striking out three to improve to 5-2 on the season. McGillicuddy now leads the Big South with three complete-game shutouts this season.

Longwood starter Aaron Myers also threw a complete game in the loss, dropping to 7-4 on the season. Myers allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out three.

High Point improves to 26-19 overall and 13-9 in the Big South with the win over Longwood. The Lancers drop to 20-29 overall and 8-14 in conference play.

The Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by junior Josh Spano. Freshman Josh Greene hit a one-out triple to the wall in left-center and came home on the Spano fly ball. The triple was the fourth of the season for the freshman who now leads the Big South.

High Point doubled its lead in the sixth on Spano’s second RBI of the day. The junior catcher hit a two-out double into the left-center gap to drive in junior Spencer Angelis from first, putting HPU ahead 2-0.

Greene pushed the Panther lead to 3-0 in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to drive in fellow freshman Chris Clare. The HPU second baseman singled to lead off the inning and was bunted over to second before taking third on a throwing error by Myers.

Spano finished 2-3 at the plate with two RBi while Greene went 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

High Point and Longwood will continue their three-game weekend series on Saturday, May 9, at 4 p.m., in Farmville, Virginia. The Panthers can clinch their fifth conference series of the season with a win over the Lancers.