HPU Baseball Falls to Longwood in League Play

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team fell to Longwood by a score of 7-3 in the second game of a weekend series on Saturday at Williard Stadium. Senior Willie Medina had two hits and scored a run in the game and sophomore Spencer Angelis reached base three times. The loss evens the series at one game apiece.

HPU threatened in the ninth inning after a leadoff walk by Angelis and single by senior Ryan Retz put two runners on base with no outs but could only score one run. The Panthers fall to 15-16 on the season and 3-5 in the Big South while LU improves to 15-17 overall and 5-6 in the Conference.

“There was no comparison between what the two teams did on the mound today,” said head coach Craig Cozart. “Brandon Vick held us in check and we couldn’t get anything going until the late innings. We have to focus on coming out tomorrow and playing our best version of baseball and winning the series.”

The Panthers fall to 15-16 on the season and 3-5 in the Big South while LU improves to 15-17 overall and 5-6 in the Conference.

Longwood starter Brandon Vick earned his third win of the season to bring his record to 3-3. The lefthander allowed three runs on ten hits while striking out three in eight innings of work.

Longwood got the scoring started in the third inning when it scored two runs. Blake Ream led off the inning with a walk and scored off a double down the right field line by Colton Konvicka. LU shortstop C.J. Roth then beat out a groundball to Medina and Konvicka scored on the play giving the Lancers a two-run advantage.

LU added three more runs in the fourth inning to extend its lead to 5-0. Alex Owens led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored on an Alex Burkett double to right centerfield just over the head of Retz. Ream then doubled, scoring both runners and came around to score off a Brandon Delk double down the left field line.

High Point managed to push two runs across in the bottom of the eighth. Redshirt-senior Sean Wilson reached on an error by the Lancer shortstop and was plated after Medina beat out a groundball and moved to third on a throwing error. Medina then came around to score on a senior Devin Bujnovsky ground out.

HPU threatened in the ninth inning after a leadoff walk by Angelis and single by Retz put two runners on base with no outs but could only score one run.

Redshirt-junior Sean Townsley took his first loss of the season in the outing, dropping to 3-1 on the year. Townsley tossed four innings yielding five runs, four earned, on six hits while walking one and striking out five Lancer batters.

Junior John Maloney pitched 2-1/3 innings of solid relief for HPU giving up one run on two hits while striking out one. Junior Mike Krumm and senior Jared Avidon also quieted the Lancer bats, allowing one combined run with four strikeouts.

Senior Jaime Schultz will make his first start of the season for HPU on Sunday when High Point and Longwood will face off in the rubber match of the series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.