• High Point fell at home to Wake Forest, 18-8, on Tuesday afternoon.
• Senior Josh Greene went 2-4 with a home run and a triple and tied his career high with four RBI.
• Greene and junior Zack Gray both hit home runs in the contest for the Panthers.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team fell at home to Wake Forest by a score of 18-8 on Tuesday night at Williard Stadium. Senior Josh Greene matched his career high with four RBI to lead HPU in the contest.
Greene finished 2-4 at the plate with a home run, a triple and four RBI. It was the most RBI in a game for the outfielder since driving in four against Wake Forest in 2014.
Freshman Garrett Letchworth lasted just one-third of an inning and allowed four runs on a hit and three walks, dropping to 0-1 on the season.
Carter Bach earned the win for Wake Forest with two innings of scoreless relief in which he allowed one hit and one walk and struck out three.
High Point drops to 8-7 on the season with the loss while Wake Forest improves to 13-5 overall.
The Panthers fell behind in the top of the first as Ben Breazeale hit a grand slam to put the visitors on top, 4-0. High Point then answered in the bottom of the frame with two runs as junior Austen Zente led off with a triple and Greene followed with his third home run in as many games. The HPU center fielder went the other way on a 1-1 pitch and hit a line drive just inside the left field foul pole.
High Point used the long ball again in the fourth inning to continue cutting into the Wake Forest lead as junior Zack Gray hit a solo shot for his first home run of the season.
Wake Forest scored six times in the fifth, four times in the sixth and two in the seventh to extend its advantage to 16-3.
High Point scored three times in the eighth and twice in the ninth. In the eighth, Greene pushed two runs across with an RBI triple to score both junior Blake Schunk and Zente then junior Carson Jackson hit an RBI single to bring home junior Jordan Sergent. In the ninth, freshman Joe Johnson and Schunk led off with back-to-back walks and scored on wild pitches.
Zente finished 2-4 with two runs scored while Gray went 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored for the Panthers.
“We are really looking forward to getting going in conference play this weekend at Liberty,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “We really want to get off on the right foot. With our first two weekend being on the road, we will find out pretty quickly where we stand.”
High Point opens conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Liberty starting on Friday, March 17, at 3 p.m. It is the first of two-straight road series for HPU to start Big South play.