The High Point University baseball squad refused to quit rallying three times en route to a 12-9 victory over Triad-rival UNC Greensboro on Wednesday afternoon at First Horizon Park.

The Panthers (5-7) captured their third straight win with a third consecutive double-digit scoring effort. The Spartans (3-4) had a three-game win streak snapped after letting a 7-3 lead slip away in the loss.

High Point got on the board first tallying a pair of runs in the opening frame. Chris Norwood blasted his first homer of the season over the leftfield wall driving in Jeff Cowan, who had reached base via a hit by pitch. The lead was short lived as UNCG responded with two runs of their own in the second. Singles by Scott Schneider and Joel Johnson followed by Sean Snell being hit by a pitch loaded the bases with no outs. Back-to-back sacrifice flies fro Ricky Orton and Adam Deleo plated the tying scores.

The Spartans plated a pair of runs in the third getting a two-out walk by Schneider and a two-run homer from Johnson to lead 4-2. HPU trimmed the lead with a run in the bottom of the frame when Billy Alvino's fly ball with the bases loaded was misplayed by the UNCG centerfielder.

Greensboro added three more in the fourth to take a 7-4 lead. Orton led off the frame with a homer to right and a pair of costly errors by the Panthers allowed a pair of runs to score.

High Point rallied with four runs in the fifth to knot the score at 7. Cowan led off with a walk and moved to third when Norwood got on base after a fielding error. Bill Manion walked to load the bases followed by a two-run double by Alvino. Matt Schlanger plated a run with a sacrifice fly and Pablo Rosario singled home another to close the scoring run.

UNCG got a run in the sixth to move back in front 8-7, but HPU again answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh on a Schlanger RBI single to even the count at 8. A High Point error allowed the Spartans to regain the lead in the eighth at 9-8.

The Panthers made the final surge pushing across four runs in the bottom of the eighth to earn the victory. Robby Kuzdale laid down a picture perfect bunt to lead off the frame. Cowan sacrificed him to second bringing up Norwood, who drove Kuzdale in with the first of three straight hits for HPU. Manion had a single followed by an RBI hit for Alvino. Matt Gantner got a pinch hit fielders choice to plate another run with Rosario adding an RBI single for the final run.

"I'm extremely proud of our guys because they did a great job of overcoming their mistake," said HPU head coach Sal Bando, Jr. "They could have packed it in and they could have hung their heads with some of the baseball that we played, but they hung in there. This team is not going to hit a lot of three-run homeruns, but I think we can hit .300 as a team and that starts with goes going out there and playing with a high level of concentration and not giving away at bats. I think we saw that today."

High Point pounded out 12 hits and overcame four errors to earn the victory. Alvino drove in four runs with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate. Norwood went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored and Schlanger added a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. Tom Boleska (1-0) worked the final 1.2 innings on the mound with three strikeouts to pick up the win in relief.

A quartet of Spartan players recorded multi-hit outings led by Orton (2-4) and Johnson (2-5). UNCG reliever Clinton McKinney (2-1) suffered his first loss of the year allowing four runs on four hits in an inning of work. Greensboro tallied 10 hits and committed five errors.

High Point now hits the road for four straight games beginning with a three-game set this weekend at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. HPU and JSU will play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game Sunday.