High Point Baseball Drops Both in Doubleheader at Upstate

Site: Spartanburg, S.C. (Harley Field)
Game One Score: USC Upstate 8, High Point 1
W: Alex Garbrick (4-0), L: Carter Sheppard (0-2)

Game Two Score: USC Upstate 7, High Point 2
W: Sawyer Worrell (1-0), L: Joe Johnson (0-1)
Records: UPST 14-3 (7-3 Big South), HPU 7-9 (5-5 Big South)
Next HPU Event: Tuesday, March 23 — vs. Campbell (Williard Stadium, High Point, N.C.), 6 p.m.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader at conference-leading USC Upstate on Saturday (March 20), falling 8-1 in the first game and 7-2 in the second.

Three Panthers had multiple hits on the day, led by Adam Stuart with three, including driving in both of HPU’s runs in the second game. Joe Johnson and Brady Pearre were the other two members of the Purple and White with multiple hits, picking up one in each contest.

High Point outhit the Spartans in the first game 8-7 but couldn’t bring anyone around to score until the ninth. Upstate took advantage of 11 walks issued by the Panthers’ pitching staff to bring around its runs, scoring all eight in the first four innings. The Spartans scored one in the second and then put up four in the third, picking up five of their seven hits in the frame, before tacking on the final three in the fourth.

The Panthers’ lone run of the game came in the top of the ninth when Tyler Leach doubled down the line in left to score Pearre.

Upstate only scored in two innings in the second game, putting up four runs in the first and three more in the second – with both innings helped by High Point errors. Only one of the four was earned in the opening frame after a dropped flyball to left on the Spartans’ leadoff hitter, who came around to score, along with two more runs with two outs in the inning. Just one of the three scored in the fifth was unearned after an error at third base allowed a runner on that later came around on an RBI single.

The fifth was the only blemish on the day for Reid Viar after three previous scoreless innings of work in relief. He ended with a final line of two earned runs with four hits, a walk, and a pair of strikeouts in 3.1 innings of action.

High Point struck in the sixth for two runs after allowing the three in the fifth when Stuart put one down the line in left to score Johnson and Ryan Russell. Russell started the inning with an infield single and took third when Johnson doubled to right. Both came home when Stuart knocked his second double of the day for his third and fourth RBIs of the season. Stuart made it to third after an error by the pitcher but couldn’t come around to score and was the last Panther to make it 90 feet away from home in the game.

HPU returns home for four games at Williard Stadium this week. Campbell will occupy the third-base dugout for a midweek game on Tuesday (March 21) at 6 p.m., before Gardner-Webb comes to town for a three-game set on Friday (March 26) and Saturday (March 27) – the last weekend home series for the Panthers until the Spartans visit in May.