HPU Baseball Loses At The College Of Charleston, 11-9

• High Point lost on the road at the College of Charleston by a score of 11-9 to even the weekend series at a game apiece.
• The Panthers trailed by a score of 7-0 and battled back to take the lead before falling late to CofC.
• Sophomore Josh Greene continued his strong series at the plate, going 3-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team fell to the College of Charleston by a score of 11-9 on Saturday afternoon in Charleston, S.C. to even the series at a game apiece. HPU came back from 7-0 down to take the lead before falling late to the Cougars.

“This was a tough game today,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “They came out swinging the bats great today and we didn’t keep the ball in the ballpark. That being said, once we got engaged from the sixth inning on we honestly outplayed them. We just put ourselves in too deep a hole at the beginning and didn’t have enough outs to work with at the end of the game.”

Junior Michael Hennessey took the loss for the Panthers after giving up three runs in one inning of relief, falling to 0-2 in 2015. Hennessey allowed three earned runs on three hits and a walk. Junior Tyler Britton got the start, but only lasted two-thirds of an inning, giving up five runs, two earned on four hits.

Brandon Glazer got the win in relief for the Cougars, improving to 2-0 on the season. Glazer pitched 2-2/3 innings and allowed three unearned runs on three hits. CofC starter Eric Bauer pitched 5-1/3 innings and allowed six runs, five earned on nine hits and three walks while striking out two. Chase Henry got his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning in which he gave up two hits.

High Point drops to 6-10 on the season with the loss while the College of Charleston improves to 10-5.

The Cougars jumped on top early, scoring five runs in the first and another in the second to take a 6-0 lead. Blake Butler and Alex Pastorius had the big hits in the opening frame as Butler hit a two-run triple and Pastorius hit a sole home run for Charleston. One inning later, CofC added another run on an RBI double by Tommy Richter.

Pastorius picked up his second RBI of the day in the fifth with a sacrifice fly that put the College of Charleston ahead by a 7-0 margin.

High Point got back into the game with six runs in the sixth to pull to within one at 7-6. Senior Josh Spano got the inning going with a double and scored on a groundout by senior Cody Manzella. The Panthers then got five-straight singles with sophomore Josh Greene, senior Brady Williamson and senior Dane McDermott all picking up RBIs. Senior Tony Fortier-Bensen recorded HPU’s sixth-straight hit with an RBI double and McDermott scored on a passed ball for the final HPU run of the inning.

The Panthers came all the way back in the following inning, scoring two runs to go ahead, 8-7. Freshman Carson Jackson reached on a fielder’s choice and Greene singled in front of Williamson who hit a high fly ball to the wall in right. The Cougar fielder got his glove on the ball, but dropped it at the wall letting both runners score.

The College of Charleston retook the lead in the bottom of the inning on a three-run home run by Morgan Phillips off Hennessey. The Cougars put two on with a walk and a single in front of the CofC outfielder who hit a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left-center to put Charleston back ahead.

High Point scored a run in the top of the eighth as Fortier-Bensen led off with a single and moved to third before scoring on a passed ball. The Cougars got the run right back in the bottom of the frame though with a solo home run by Carl Wise to make the score 11-9.

The Panthers put the tying run on base in the ninth thanks to back-to-back singles by Jackson and Greene with one out, but a double play ended the threat as the Panthers fell to even the series.

Five different HPU players recorded multiple hits in the loss, led by Greene who went 3-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. In two games against the Cougars, Greene has gone 5-7 with two walks, two home runs, two RBI and three runs scored.

Spano, Jackson, Williamson and Fortier-Bensen all joined Greene with multiple hits on the afternoon. Williamson, McDermott and Fortier-Bensen all had an RBI and a run scored while Jackson tied for the team lead with two runs scored.

With the series between High Point and the College of Charleston tied at a game apiece, the two teams will meet in the rubber game of the three-game weekend series at Patriots Point on Sunday, March 15 to decide the winner. First pitch in the series finale is set for 1 p.m.