HPU Baseball Falls To Ball State, 6-3

• High Point fell to Ball State by a score of 6-3 after a three-run home run in the eighth inning by the Cardinals’ Caleb Stayton.
• Senior Tony Fortier-Bensen went 1-2 with two runs scored and two walks for HPU.
• The Panthers drop to 1-3 on the season with the loss.

AIKEN, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team lost late to Ball State by a score of 6-3 on Saturday afternoon in Aiken, S.C. HPU tied the game in the eighth inning, but fell to the Cardinals on a three-run home run in the bottom of the frame.

“This is how the game of baseball goes sometimes,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “Our guys stayed with it, we pitched well and we scrapped offensively. We were able to fight back and tie the game but sometimes in baseball someone hits a home run and that’s what happened today. We need to find a way to focus on what we can control and I think we will do that in this next game.”

Senior Tony Fortier-Bensen went 1-2 with two runs scored and two walks while freshman Hunter Lee went 2-2 with a double. Senior Cody Manzella and sophomore Chris Clare each picked up RBIs for the Panthers.

Caleb Stayton went 2-4 with four RBI and hit the game-winning home run for Ball State. Alex Call and Jarett Rindfleisch both finished with two hits and two runs scored and Elbert Devarie finished 3-4 at the plate with an RBI.

Junior Michael Hennessey took the loss for the Panthers after allowing three earned runs in 3-2/3 innings of work. The right-hander gave up four hits while striking out one. Junior Tyler Britton started for HPU and went 4-1/3 innings while allowing three earned runs on six hits and two walks and recording three strikeouts.

B.J. Butler was charged with a blown save for Ball State but earned the win to improve to 1-0 on the season. Butler pitched 1-2/3 innings and surrendered one hit. Zach Plesac pitched 5-2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven.

High Point got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Manzella. Freshman Carson Jackson hit a one-out single and scored the first run of the game on the Manzella single.

The score remained 1-0 until the fourth inning when Ball State pushed across two runs on a single by Stayton and a fielder’s choice by Sean Kennedy to jump ahead, 2-1. The Cardinals added a run in the following inning on a single by Devarie to go up by a 3-1 margin.

The Panthers got a run back in the sixth on a pinch-hit single from senior Brady Williamson, scoring Fortier-Bensen who reached on a single. HPU then tied the game in the eighth when Clare hit a single to drive in Fortier-Bensen after the shortstop earned a one-out walk.

Ball State quickly retook control of the game in the bottom of the eighth. The Cardinals put the first two runners on with back-to-back singles and then, after a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, got a three-run home run from Stayton to grab the win.

The loss drops High Point to 1-3 on the season while Ball State improves to 2-2.

High Point plays the final of its three games in Aiken, S.C., today at 1:30 p.m., when the team takes on Elon.