The High Point baseball team squandered a great pitching outing by Brian Jones who allowed no earned runs in six innings of work, dropping game three of the series by a score of 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Coy O. Williard Stadium.

HPU (2-1) scored their only run of the game in the first inning, the first time they scored first in the series.  Jeff Cowan got things going with a single through the left side on the first pitch he saw.  He was forced out at second base when Bill Manion reached on a fielders choice right after him.  Billy Alvino drove a ball deep down the left field line to allow Manion to score from first base and put the Panthers ahead 1-0. 

Jones was solid for the Panthers all day long, striking out five batters through the first three innings including the side in the first inning.  He got in some trouble in the fourth inning when Ryan Nevill doubled and advanced to third when Marshall MacDonald singled on a swinging bunt to the pitcher.  The southpaw dug deep and got the next batter to pop up to second base before striking out the next two hitters.

Dayton (1-2) finally cracked through two innings later when capitalizing on a Panther error.  After a groundout, Nevill walked and moved up to second on a MacDonald single.  Zach Jacob flied out to right field, Nevill tug up going to third base.  MacDonald advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting both runners in scoring position.  Aaron Dunsmore reached first when a grounderwas mishandled and kept the inning alive and Nevill crossed the plate on the play.  Jake Hoover knocked in the go-ahead run next with a single to leftfield plating MacDonald. 

High Point had chances in the middle innings to score, putting a runner in scoring position in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but were unable to get the key hit to drive in the run.  Their best opportunity came in the sixth inning when Manion led of the inning with a double in the left-center gap.  After a groundout, Kyle Mahoney drew a walk putting two runners on.  Unfortunately, Max Fulginiti grounded into a double-player thwarting the rally.

The Panthers attempted a rally ninth inning but were unsuccessful.  Fulginiti started the inning with a laser up the middle, but it hit Dayton pitcher Eric Wagner in the leg, who was able to recover and throw the right fielder out.  Spencer Atwood and Eric Marion followed with back-to-back singles setting up Pablo Rosario.  The lefty drove one to deep left field, but it was caught.  The game ended when Alfie Wheeler hit a chopper to third base, allowing Nevill to force out pinch-runner Drew Geissinger at third for the final out.

Alvino was the only HPU player to tally more than one hit, also picking up a single in the fourth inning.  Rosario picked up a walk and a hit, while stealing three bases.  Jones suffered the tough loss in his first college appearance.  He finished with eight strikeouts, allowing six hits and issued just one free pass.  Jeremy Berg worked the final three innings, picking up four strikeouts.

Dayton was led by MacDonald and Jacob, each picking up two hits on the afternoon.  Starter Chris Beasley picked up the win, working seven innings and allowing just the one run in the first inning.  Eric Wagner made his second appearance of the series out of the bullpen and picked up the save working the final two innings.

High Point is back in action on Tuesday, February 24, when they travel to Raleigh, N.C. to take on the Wolfpack of N.C. State.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.  The two teams split their two games last year, HPU winning the first by a score of 9-6, before dropping game two of the series 4-2.