The High Point baseball team was unable to hold an early lead allowing 16 runs in the final five innings dropping the weekend series finale to Cincinnati, 16-6, on Sunday afternoon.

HPU falls to 6-8 on the season while Cincy improves to 4-5 with the win. The Bearcats tallied 14 hits and also benefited from four errors and 11 walks. The game also saw the two teams combine for five homers on the day.

The Panthers grabbed the lead early scoring a run in each of the first three innings. Chris Norwood put HPU on the board in the first, snapping an 0-for-11 slump with a homerun to left off Cincinnati starter Glen Simon. Freshman catcher Billy Aguiar drilled a shot just inside the leftfield foul pole in the next inning for the Panthers second straight inning with a homer. In the third, Jeff Cowan singled to lead off moved to second after Norwood was hit by a pitch and then stole third. Randy Schwartz then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Cowan and put HPU in front, 3-0.

Cincinnati finally got something going against High Point starter Matt Christie in the fourth. UC loaded the bases with one out but Christie induced a foul out and then recorded a strikeout to quelch the threat.

The Bearcats finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth a LaFringe Hayes singled to center and advanced to second on a fielding error. One batter later Logan Parker belted his second homer of the weekend trimming the High Point lead to one at 3-2. Mark Muscenti then doubled and scored on a single by Kyle Rapp to tie the score.

High Point answered with a run in the bottom of the frame as Schwartz doubled and then scored on a two-out double by Chris Marks.

In the sixth inning, Hayes drew a walk followed by a single from Josh Harrison. Following an HPU pitching change, Parker walked then Brian Szarmach cleared the bases with a grand slam to push UC back in front, 7-4. The shot snapped an 0-for-13 skid including nine strikeouts for Szarmach, who finished the day with two hits and six RBIs.

Cincinnati added two more runs in the seventh to go ahead 9-4. High Point got a run back in the bottom of the seventh as J. Williams singled to lead off the frame then moved to third as Marks and Aguiar both reached base on infield errors. Dustin Holtzman drove in the run with a double-play groundout making the score 9-5.

After a scoreless eighth inning, the Bearcats exploded for seven runs in the top of the ninth on three hits and one HPU error. UC was aided by three walks by a pair of Panther pitchers. High Point concluded the scoring in their final at-bat as Mark smacked a homer to left centerfield for the Panthers third long ball of the day.

Six Cincinnati players finished with multi-hit performances led by Muscenti's 3-for-3 day. Hayes and Parker both scored four times for the Bearcats. Relief pitcher Jack Nelson (1-0) earned the win for UC.

Cowan, Marks and Alfie Wheeler all finished with two hits on the day to pace the Panther offense. Marks led the way with two RBIs and HPU doubled their season homerun total with their trio of blasts on Sunday. Christie pitched 4.2 innings but earned a no-decision for the second time this week. Marks (2-2) suffered the loss after allowing two runs in 0.2 innings of work.

High Point next visits in-state foe North Carolina State on Tuesday at 3 p.m. before hosting Dayton next weekend in a three-game home series. Cincinnati closes its season-opening 10-game road stretch with a game at Kentucky on Wednesday.