Box Score #14 Florida State scored two runs in the seventh and eighth inning to come from behind and defeat High Point 4-3 Wednesday night at Dick Howser Stadium.
Both teams got off to a quick start again trading off runs in the first, this time the Panthers scored first. Jeff Cowan began the game off by being hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alfie Wheeler. After passed ball put him on third, the second baseman scored on a fielding error by the Seminoles.
Florida State quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning. Tyler Holt hit a double to left-centerfield and moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt. Jason Stidham hit a low line-drive into right field which hit off the glove of a diving Spencer Andrews for an RBI double. Mikel Rodenberg struck out the next hitter and got the following hitter to groundout to end the inning keeping the score deadlocked at one.
HPU took the lead in the top half of the third again with Cowan reaching, this time on a double down the leftfield line. Another sac bunt by Wheeler moved him up to third base. A diving play by Stephen Cardullo robbed Bill Manion of a hit and RBI for the second out. Kyle Mahoney drove in his 11th run of the season on a single giving the Panthers a 2-1 lead. High Point nearly tacked on a couple more runs in the fourth inning. A pair of walks and sacrifice bunts put Pablo Rosario and Max Fulginiti in scoring position for Cowan. He drove a 1-1 pitch to the fence, but a leaping catch at the fence from the leftfielder kept HPU from tacking on any more runs.
High Point was finally able to push another across as the FSU pitching lost command of the strike zone. Back-to-back walks to Wheeler and Manion were followed by a Mahoney sacrifice bunt. Billy Alvino was then hit on a 2-1 pitch to load the bases. Rosario then drew another walk, plating Wheeler. The hosts avoided giving up the big inning as Eric Marion grounded into a double play to end the inning.
FSU would score the final three runs of the contest to complete the comeback victory. In the fifth inning, they received a solo homerun from Rafael Lopez to right-centerfield. Tommy Oravetz started the seventh off with a two-strike double and advanced to third on a pass ball. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Ohmed Danesh who hit a sacrifice fly bringing in Oravetz. Zach Scott came on in relief to induce a groundball double play to end the rally. James Ramsey singled through the right side and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Ramsey advanced to third on a single and was able to score on the play on a fielding error in the outfield to give FSU a 4-3 lead.
Cowan led the Panther offense reaching safely four times and his hit in the third inning moved him into third place on the all-time High Point hit list. He currently has 218 career hits, 38 hits away from surpassing the record. Rodenberg was spectacular in his first start of the season holding the FSU offense to just two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work. The HPU bullpen was solid again surrendering just one earned run to close out the contest. Scott suffered the loss, dropping his record to 1-1.
Lopez and Oravetz paced the Seminole line-up picking up two hits apiece and each scored a run. Geoff Parker picked up the win in relief tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless ball. Jimmy Marshall picked up his third save of the year, working a perfect ninth inning.
High Point returns to the diamond this weekend when it travels to Radford, Va. to take on the Highlanders in the second weekend of Big South play. Game times are set for 3:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Friday March 13, Saturday March 14 and Saturday 15, respectively.
