The High Point baseball team pounded out seventeen hits to defeat Dayton 12-9 Saturday afternoon at Coy O. Williard Sr. Stadium.

Dayton once again jumped out to an early lead putting up four runs in the first two innings for a 4-0 advantage.  HPU starter Jamie Serber recorded two quick outs in the first inning before Marshall MacDonald hit his first homerun of the season to left field. 

Zach Jacob led off the second with a single up the middle.  Max Navalinski came up next and hit a homerun to right field.  Scott Dunwoody drew a walk and advanced to third on a hit-and-run by Myles Swartzel who was thrown out at second trying to stretch the single into a double.  Ryan Nevill singled in the final run Serber would allow in his outing. 

High Point quickly tied up the score with a four run third inning.  Eric Marion started the inning off with a single in the hole, which the shortstop was able to get to, to keep it in the infield.  The next two Panthers got out before the two-out rally began.  Marion advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Jeff Cowan double down the leftfield line.  Bill Manion singled up the middle driving in Cowan, cutting the lead in half, 4-2.  Billy Alvino singled up the box as well and both runners advanced to third and second respectively on a balk.  HPU was able to tie the game up at 4-4 in the next at-bat when Kyle Mahoney reached on an error by the third baseman. 

The Panthers took the lead for good in the fifth inning when they sent up 10 batters to the plate putting a five spot on the board.  Manion and Alvino started the frame off with back-to-back walks.  Mahoney hit a ball to the fence which scored Manion.  Alvino got caught up in a run down between second and third allowing Mahoney to reach second base.  An overthrow during the run down was called dead and let both Alvino and Mahoney score on the miscue.  Drew Geissinger singled to chase UD starter Quinn Haselhorst from the ball game.  Marion capped off the scoring outburst when he drove the first pitch he saw from Tim Corbey deep over the left field wall for his first career homerun. 

HPU kept their foot on the gas putting up three more runs in the next two frames.  The sixth inning started with a pair of singles from Alvino and Mahoney and a Max Fulginiti walk to load the bases.  Geissinger grounded into a double-play, forcing out Alvino at home plate.  Marion had his second two-run hit of the game, this time a double to left-center scoring Mahoney and Fulginiti.  In the seventh, Alfie Wheeler led off the inning with a single and was followed up by a Cowan walk.  Manion flied out to deep center, allowing Wheeler to advance to third.  Alvino drove in Wheeler with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving High Point a 12-5 lead. 

Dayton would not go down quietly though, scoring four runs in the ninth inning.  Dunwoody was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame.  Pinch-hitter Jonathan Castine drew a walk and was pinch-ran for by Brian Blasik.  Nevill then singled through the left side driving in Dunwoody.  Jake Hoover pinch-hit as well and doubled down the leftfield line allowing Blasik to cross the plate.  Cole Tyrell capped off the scoring with a two-run single up the middle.  High Point reliever Nick Lettas got Macdonald to flight out to right and struck out the final two batters to stop the rally short.

"Dayton came out very aggressive and put up 4 runs in the first 2 innings," said head coach Craig Cozart. "Jamie Serber showed tremendous maturity and made some adjustment, giving us 6 quality innings on the mound.  That gave us time to get going offensively.  We had extraordinary production from our offense today up-and-down the order.  Anytime you get 17 hits and 12 runs, you expect to win.  Just an all around solid performance."
 

For the day, Mahoney, Marion and Wheeler all collected three hits apiece.  Alvino, Geissinger, and Manion also had multiple hits in the contest. Serber picked up the win working six quality innings, not allowing a run after the second and issued only one hit during that span.  Spencer Andrews and Lettas both made their first college appearances for the Panthers closing out the game.  Fulginiti's 11-game hitting streak was snapped, but he did pick up a pair of walks.

Nevill was the only Dayton player to record more than one hit, picking up three.  MacDonald and Navalinski each homered for the Flyers.  Haselhorst suffered the loss giving up eight runs (six earned) in 4.1 innings of work.

The two teams square-off again tomorrow afternoon in the series finale at Coy O. Williard Sr. Stadium as Brian Jones takes the hill for the Panthers and will be countered by Chris Beesley.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.