Bill Manion sparked the offense by going 5-for-5 and hit his second homerun of the season in leading High Point to a 12-5 win over intra-triad rival Wake Forest Tuesday night at Williard Stadium.

High Point (17-19) scored early and often as they posted a five-run first inning and 10 runs through the first four innings of play.  Jeff Cowan drew a walk to start the bottom of the first inning and Alfie Wheeler reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt on an errant throw from the Wake Forest pitcher putting runners at second and third.  Manion legged out an infield single up the middle plating Cowan.  A failed pickoff attempt on Manion sailed down the rightfield line which allowed Manion to advance all the way up to third and scored Wheeler.  Billy Alvino was hit by a pitch followed by a double down the rightfield line from Kyle Mahoney, bringing in Manion and putting both runners in scoring position.  Max Fulginiti extended his Big South leading hitting streak to 26-games with a single up the middle, scoring both runners to give the Panthers a 5-0 lead after the first inning and chased starter Mark Adzick from the game allowing five runs (four earned) without registering an out.

Wake Forest (20-20) responded scoring the games next three runs.  Weldon Woodall homered to centerfield for the first Demon Deacons run of the contest.  Three consecutive hits after an out was recorded in the third got the next two runs on the board for Wake Forest.  A single from Steven Brooks followed by RBI double from Shane Kroker and RBI single by Dustin Hood to make it a 5-3 HPU advantage.

The Panthers put it away with another crooked number posted, this time a four spot and a 9-3 lead.  Back-to-back singles from Manion and Alvino started the frame.  After a fly out, Fulginiti doubled in both runners to left-centerfield.  Spencer Andrews hit a double of his own down the leftfield line scoring Fulginiti.  A groundout allowed Andrews to move up to third and the sophomore scored on a wild pitch.

Bentley Heyman blooped a pinch-hit single to rightfield to start the top of the fourth for the Deacs.  He moved up a base on a groundout and crossed home on a single by Evan Ocheltree.  Ocheltree stole second base and scored the final run of the game for Wake Forest on a double down the leftfield line by Micah Jarrett. 

HPU posted three more single-run innings to close out the contest's scoring.  Cowan began the fourth with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Wheeler.  Manion drove him in with a single down the leftfield line.  In the seventh, Andrews single to lead off the inning.  Marion doubled to centerfield.  A mishandle by Brooks in the outfield allowed Andrews to score all the way from first.  The next two batters were retired before Wheeler laced a single to rightfield, but Marion was gunned down at home.  Manion closed out the scoring hitting a bomb to leftfield on the first pitch of the eighth inning. 

Al Yevoli picked up the win working six innings allowing five runs on 10 hits, while picking up two strikeouts.  The win was the first of his collegiate career.   Corey Swickle worked the final three innings, not allowing a run while giving up two hits and two walks.  The save was Swickle's second of the season.  Adzick suffered the loss dropping his record to 0-2.

Five different Panthers picked up multiple hits led by Manion's five hit performance.  Alvino picked up his 23 multi-hit outing on the season.  Fulginiti drove in a game high four runs.  Cowan is five hits away from breaking the all-time hits record standing at 251 career hits and is four runs away from surpassing the all-time runs scored mark of 175.  He also improved his hitting streak to 13-games.  Entering the contest Wheeler ranked seventh in the NCAA with 11 sacrifice bunts and picked up two more on the night.  HPU has won 10 out of their last 13 games, including three wins against nationally ranked teams.  The offense has scored 72 runs in the past seven games.

High Point is back in action tomorrow night, April 22nd when it hosts Appalachian State at Williard Stadium.  Fox 8 News will be broadcasting live from the field during the 5:00 and 6:00 evening shows.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.