Site: High Point, N.C. (Williard Stadium)
Score: UNCG 12, High Point 3
W: Austin Parsley (5-2), L: Dawson Place (1-5)
Records: UNCG 20-19, HPU 12-20
Next HPU Event: Friday, April 30 — at Winthrop (Rock Hill, S.C.), 5 p.m.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – Playing in its first and only home game in April, the High Point University baseball team fell in its penultimate non-conference game of the season with a 12-3 loss to Triad-foe UNCG on Tuesday evening (April 27).
High Point held a one-run lead for the majority of the contest until a 10-run eighth inning for UNCG flipped the game on its head. The Panthers only mustered two hits after that, both coming in the bottom half of the eighth, but couldn’t bring either around to chip into the deficit. It was a revolving door out of the bullpen as 10 different pitchers entered the game for HPU, including four in the decisive eighth inning. An error early in the eighth caused half of the runs in the game to be unearned as only six were charged to the Purple and White’s pitching staff.
The Panthers started the scoring in the first inning with a pair of leadoff hits to get two runners into scoring position. Joe Johnson legged out an infield single to start the inning, followed by a double to left from Peyton Carr. A grounder to the third baseman turned into a double play when Carr ran into the fielder but Johnson came home on the play to get the game’s first run.
UNCG leveled the scoring in the top of the second, starting with a double down the line in right with two outs. The next batter singled up the middle to score the runner from second. The batter tried to stretch the single into a double but was thrown out by catcher Tyler Leach. The score did not remain tied for long as back-to-back doubles for High Point gave the Panthers back the lead.
Cameron Irvine laced a one-out double down the line in left and Travis Holt followed suit in the next at bat to bring home Irvine. Leach singled through the left side of the infield next to put runners on the corners, but a strikeout and a popup to short ended the inning before HPU could get an insurance run.
Once again, UNCG had an answer in the inning immediately following the one High Point scored in and leveled the game once more on two hits in the third. A two-out double down the line in left put a runner in scoring position that came home on a single to right. The score remained tied until the fifth inning when the Panthers pushed across their third and final run of the game. Jackson Melton hit one hard back up the middle that ricocheted off the pitcher for an infield single and then stole second to get a runner in scoring position with two outs. Cole Singsank then stepped up and brought Melton home with an RBI-single to right field.
High Point maintained its one-run lead until the eighth inning when UNCG sent 15 players to the plate in the 10-run frame. A bases-loaded triple with nobody out gave the Spartans their first lead of the day and seven more hits led to seven more runs for the visitors to come away with the 12-3 win. UNCG scored four runs on five hits before the first out of the inning was recorded and then tacked on six more runs and five more hits with two outs on the board.
HPU returns to conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Winthrop. The teams will play Friday (April 30) at 5 p.m. before playing a twin bill on Saturday (May 1), scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.