HPU Baseball Falls at Appalachian State, 8-3

• High Point fell on the road at Appalachian State by a score of 8-3, dropping to 14-13 on the season.
• Sophomore Josh Greene went 3-4 on the day with a double and a run scored for the Panthers.
• Junior Michael Hennessey took the loss on the mound after giving up three earned runs in 3-2/3 innings of work.

BOONE, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team dropped an 8-3 decision to Appalachian State on Tuesday night in Boone, N.C. Sophomore Josh Greene had three hits and a run scored in the loss.

“Unfortunately the tone was set in the first three innings,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “We had a chance to blow the game open early and we could hardly even put the ball in play. To say we were uncompetitive at the plate is an understatement then we followed suit on the mound. We have 48 hours to shake this off and get ready for Winthrop.”

Junior Michael Hennessey took the loss for the Panthers, dropping to 1-3 on the season. Hennessey gave up three earned runs on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts over 3-2/3 innings pitched.

Dallas DeVrieze earned the win after throwing 2-1/3 scoreless innings in relief. DeVrieze gave up just one hit and two walks while striking out two. Reed Howell started for ASU and threw 4-2/3 innings. Howell gave up one unearned run on four hits and struck out seven.

High Point drops to 14-13 overall with the loss while the Mountaineers improves to 8-21.

Appalachian State scored a run in the second, the third and the fourth to take an early 3-0 lead. The Mountaineers’ Noah Holmes hit a solo home run to get ASU on the board, Michael Pierson doubled the lead with an RBI single and Drake Zupcic drove in the third run on an RBI groundout.

High Point trimmed the ASU lead with a run in the fifth inning to pull within two at 3-1. Sophomore Chris Clare reached second on a throwing error and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on an RBI groundout by freshman Hunter Lee.

The Mountaineers came right back with two runs in the bottom of the frame, extending their lead to 5-1. Conner Leonard drove in both runs with an RBI single for Appalachian State.

ASU scored a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to push its lead to 8-1. Grayson Atwood had a solo home run for the Mountaineers in the sixth and Dillon Dobson had an RBI single the following inning.

High Point pushed two runs across in the eighth to make the final margin 8-3. Sophomore Peter Ripke was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score senior Spencer Angelis and senior Tony Fortier-Bensen hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Greene.

Greene finished 3-4 at the plate with a double and a run scored. Angelis went 1-4 with a run scored and Fortier-Bensen finished 1-3 with an RBI.

High Point returns to conference play this weekend with a three-game road series at Winthrop in Rock Hill, S.C., beginning on Thursday, April 2. First pitch in the series opener is set for 6 p.m.