After falling behind early, the High Point University baseball team made a late charge before falling 9-7 to Longwood University on Wednesday night at Coy O. Wllliard Sr Stadium.

With the loss, HPU slipped to 18-27 on the season, while Longwood upped its yearly mark to 22-23. The victory by the Lancers gave them a season split in their two game series with the Panthers with both road teams earning a win.

Matt Gantner went 4-for-5 at the plate with hits in each of his first four at-bats. Gantner drove in two runs and also scored a pair of runs for the Panthers. Chris Norwood finished with three hits while Randy Schwartz and Max Fulginiti each had two hits. Fulginiti led the team with three RBI. Kyle Mahoney extended his current hit streak to nine games with a single in the sixth inning. 

HPU starter Mikel Rodenberg (1-3) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on two hits in 2.1 innings of work. Chad Jennings surrendered five runs on six hits in 1.2 innings of relief for the Panthers. Corey Swickle and Jeremy Berg combined to hold the Lancers scoreless over the final five innings of the game with Swickle pitching two and a two-thirds and Berg working two and one-third.

John Walker II (6-4) allowed six runs on 12 hits in six and one-third innings for the Lancers. Lance Harting earned his fifth save of the season after working the final one and a third innings. Three Longwood players each finished with two hits with David Smiy, Jr., logging three RBI to pace the offense.

Longwood scored a run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Scott Kimble was hit by a pitch and stole second to get into scoring position. Justin Morreim drove Kimble in with an RBI single.

High Point answered with three runs in the bottom half of the frame grabbing a 3-1 advantage. The Panthers opened the game with five consecutive hits including RBI singles for Gantner and Billy Alvino. Fulginiti added a run scoring groundout with the bases loaded to push across HPU's third run.

The Lancers cut the High Point lead to 3-2 with a run in the second. Smiy delivered the key hit with an RBI double down the right field line. Longwood added four runs on three hits in the third inning to regain the lead at 6-3. Casey Havers drove in a pair of runs with a double along with a second two-run double from Smiy.

Longwood broke things open in the fourth adding three more runs for a 9-3 lead. Robbie Bailey led off the frame with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly from Phil Cerreto. The Lancers used a double steal for their second score and also got an RBI single by Nick vonGersdorff.

The Panthers made the score 9-4 after picking up a run in the sixth. Fulginiti led off the frame with a double and moved to third on a single by Mahoney. Alfie Wheeler grounded into a double play allowing Fulginiti to cross the plate. HPU added a pair of runs an inning later to close their deficit to 9-6. Back-to-back doubles from Norwood and Gantner plated one run followed by an RBI infield single from Fulginiti.

HPU closed the scoring with a run in the ninth for the final margin. Alvino started the inning off with his HPU career leading 41st hit-by-pitch and moved to third on a double by Schwartz. Fulginiti grounded out to second scoring Alvino and moving Schwartz to third. With one out and a man on third, High Point looked to be set for a final comeback rally but were unable to drive home any further runs.

High Point returns to the road this weekend as the Panthers are slated for a three-game series against Big South Conference leading and 18th-ranked Coastal Carolina. HPU and CCU open their series on Friday night at 7 p.m. from Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field.