HPU baseball drops series finale to Winthrop, 6-2

• High Point dropped the final game of its weekend series against Winthrop by a score of 6-2.
• The loss was the Panther’s first in seven games and only its third in March.
• Sophomore Hunter Lee scored both runs in the contest for HPU.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University baseball team dropped a 6-2 decision to Winthrop in the series finale on Saturday at Williard Stadium. The loss was HPU’s first in seven games and only its third in the month of March.

“Today was a great example of what will drive you crazy about baseball,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “They hit some balls that weren’t hit hard but found some holes and we hit some balls really hard that found gloves. We had a couple plays that we could have made but didn’t and they were fantastic defensively. You have to control the situation on the mound and we didn’t do that in the first few innings. It’s a game of inches and the inches didn’t go our way today.”

Freshman Andrew Gottfried took the loss for the Panthers, dropping to 2-2 in his first season. Gottfried pitched 3-2/3 innings and allowed five runs, four earned on five hits and two walks while striking out two.

Thad Harris allowed just two runs in 7-2/3 innings to earn his first collegiate win for Winthrop. Harris gave up just five hits and three walks and struck out four.

High Point drops to 18-6 overall and 5-1 in the Big South with the loss while Winthrop moves back to .500 at 12-12 and is now 1-2 in the Big South.

Winthrop loaded the bases and pushed three runs across in the first to take an early 3-0 lead. The Eagles had two bloop singles and a walk then scored the first run on an RBI groundout by Roger Gonzalez. A two-out single by Jace Whitley scored the second run and an error on the play allowed the third run to score.

The Panthers got a run back in the third when sophomore Hunter Lee scored on a wild pitch after HPU had loaded the bases on a walk by Lee, a double by junior Chris Clare and a hit batter. The Eagles came right back with two runs in the next half inning on a wild pitch and a double steal to go ahead, 5-1.

After Winthrop extended its lead to 6-1 on an RBI single by Anthony Paulsen in the seventh, Lee scored his second run of the day on an RBI single by senior Dominic Fazio in the eighth inning to pull within four at 6-2.

High Point brought the tying run to the plate with one out after loading the bases, but Lee was robbed of a double on a leaping grab by WU’s Mark Lowrie at first and Clare’s hot shot up the line was knocked down for the force out at third to end the game.

Clare finished 2-5 at the plate and was the only Panther batter to record multiple hits. Fazio went 1-3 and had HPU’s only RBI in the loss.

High Point returns to the road this week with a midweek game at North Carolina Central in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, March 29. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.