High Point drops its home finale to Western Carolina 10-5 in a non-conference matchup Wednesday night at Williard Stadium.

High Point opened up the scoring in the night posting a two spot in second inning which began with a Max Fulginiti single to leftfield.  Kyle Mahoney then smacked one to centerfield and the two runners moved up a base to second and third on a balk.  Fulginiti crossed the plate on a single down the rightfield line by Pablo Rosario.  On a hit-and-run play, Eric Marion was thrown out on a great play by the shortstop, but he drove in Mahoney and Rosario reached second.  He was thrown out trying to steal third and a strikeout ended the inning.

Western Carolina stormed back scoring the game's next 10 runs to take command of the contest.  After two quick outs were recorded in the fourth inning, Ross Heffley slapped a 0-2 pitch through the right side to get things going.  Three more singles followed suit as two runs crossed the plate knotting the game at 2-2.  JC Lyons then hit a three-run homerun to left-centerfield giving the Catamounts a 5-2 lead after four.

In the fifth, WCU got an unearned run on a fielding error with the infield in that allowed a run to cross the.  An inning later, Lyons was hit by a pitch to start the inning then stole second base and moved up to third on a wild pitch.  He would cross home on a RBI-single by Mitchell Hatley.

A single and two walks loaded the bases to begin the seventh inning.  A fielder's choice forcing out the run at home got the first out for High Point, keeping runners on all bags.  Lyons came through again singling in two runs to rightfield.  A hit batter and a flyout loaded the bases again with two outs.  The final run for Western Carolina came on a walk to Trevor Collias, giving the visitors a 10-2 lead.

HPU tried to get back in the game responding in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own.  Rosario hit a blast on the first pitch he saw from reliever Matt Benedict halfway up the light stand in rightfield.  Marion scorched a double off the right-centerfield wall before a groundout accounted for the first out of the inning.  Jeff Cowan was then hit by a pitch putting runners on first and second.  The hit by pitch was the 18th of the season for Cowan, breaking the HPU single-season record.  Back-to-back walks to Alfie Wheeler and Bill Manion forced in Marion and keeping the bases loaded.  Like he has all night, Billy Alvino laced a ball which took a spectacular diving grab to register the out, but Cowan scored on the sacrifice fly.  A groundout then ended the inning, keeping the WCU lead at 10-5. 

The Panthers got their first two batters on in the ninth via a hit by pitch to Spenser Atwood and a Cowan single.  A fielder's choice allowed Wheeler to reach putting runners on the corners.  Manion jumped all over a fastball, but the second baseman jumped to snag the ball and fired to first base to complete the double play to end the game.

Rosario and Marion picked up multi-hit games on the night for HPU while Rosario also drove in two runs.  Manion extended his hitting streak to 18-games, the longest current streak for the Panthers and fourth longest in the Big South this season.  Zach Scott took the loss for the Panthers working two innings giving up five runs on six hits and a walk. 

Kyle Stewart picked up the win tossing six innings surrendering two runs on five hits and a walk.  He also picked up four strikeouts while improving his record to 4-1 on the season.  Three different hitters picked up two hits on the night led by Lyons who drove in five runs on the night.

HPU will close out its regular season play with a Big South three game set versus VMI starting tomorrow, Thursday May 14 at Gray-Minor Stadium.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. for all three contests in the series.