HPU baseball drops doubleheader nightcap at Radford, 3-2

• High Point fell to Radford by a score of 3-2 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader in Radford, Va.
• Junior Austen Zente went 2-4 and hit his team-high ninth home run of the season.
• The two teams will meet in the rubber game of the series on Sunday, May 14, at 2 p.m.

RADFORD, Va. – The High Point University baseball team dropped the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader to Radford by a score of 3-2 in Radford, Va. The loss evens the weekend series at a game apiece.

“Obviously it is disappointing to have not swept today,” head coach Craig Cozart said. “Game one was a great comeback, we got down by five runs so for us to come back and win that game was a tremendous effort. Game two was disappointing; we were never able to get going offensively. We had a tremendous opportunity to sweep a doubleheader but we couldn’t get it done. Now we have to come back tomorrow and figure out a way to win the series.”

Freshman Drew Daczkowski was charged with the loss after allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits and four walks and striking out four in six innings of work. He falls to 5-4 on the season.

Danny Hrbek got the win for Radford and improved to 4-4 on the season. The right-hander allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits and a walk while striking out one in five innings.

The loss by the Panthers is High Point’s first in six games and it drops them to 27-19 overall and 13-10 in the Big South. Radford improves to 21-28 overall and 9-11 in conference play.

After Radford scored a run in the first to take a 1-0 lead, High Point answered back with a run in the second to tie the game and another in the third to go ahead, 2-1. Junior Carson Jackson scored the first run for the Panthers when a throw to first on a potential double play was dropped. In the following inning, junior Austen Zente led off with a solo home run, his ninth of the season, to put HPU in front by a run.

The Highlanders came back with two runs in the bottom of the third to go back in front, 3-2. An error in the outfield and a single put two runners on for Hrbek who drove in the first run of the frame with an RBI double. Spencer Horwitz then put the hosts back in front with a bases-loaded single.

Zente finished 2-4 in the game with the home run while Jackson finished 2-4 with a run scored for the Panthers.

High Point and Radford wrap up their weekend series on Sunday, May 14, when the two teams meet in the rubber game of the three-game set. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. It will be HPU’s final Big South game of the season.