Alfie Wheeler and Kyle Mahoney had three hits each to lead No. 6 High Point past No. 2 Winthrop, 7-4, in game 2 of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Baseball Championship, May 20 at historic McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C.  With the victory, High Point improves to 21-30 and advances to play the winner of No. 3 Liberty-No. 4 Radford Thursday at 7:00pm.  Winthrop falls to 32-24 and moves to the loser's bracket, where the Eagles will face No. 8 VMI in an elimination game Thursday at 11:00am.  It is the second-straight year and the third time in four years that the No. 2 seed lost in its opening game of the tournament.

High Point jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Wheeler belted a one-out home run to right-centerfield off Winthrop starter Ken Monteith.  It was Wheeler's second career home run.  The Panthers tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning to jump ahead, 3-0.  Mahoney doubled to left and scored on Pablo Rosario's single to right. After Rosario was thrown out trying to steal second, Eric Marion singled to left, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Spenser Atwood's single to left field.

Winthrop cut the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth.  With one out, Matt Thielepape, John Murrian and Sean Sullivan hit consecutive singles to load the bases.  After Thielepape was forced out at home for the second out, Tyler McBride singled home Murrian.

But the Panthers came right back and regained their four-run lead when Bill Manion cleared the 40-foot rightfield scoreboard for a two-run home run that scored Wheeler, who had singled.  Billy Alvino doubled to left to knock Monteith out of the game.

The Eagles again answered in the bottom of the fifth.  Eddie Tisdale made the score 5-2 with a one-out home run, his 10th of the year.  Winthrop then loaded the bases with base hits from Eddie Rohan, Thielepape and Murrian, then Sullivan knocked home two runs with a double off the wall to pull Winthrop within one at 5-4.  Starter Jamie Serber would be replaced by Spencer Andrews who got out of the jam securing the lead for the Panthers.

High Point added insurance runs in the top of the eighth inning when Mahoney blasted a two-run home run off Winthrop's Robert Lake that scored Max Fulginiti and made the score 7-4.  Winthrop rallied in the bottom of the ninth, putting runners on first and second with no outs.  But HPU closer Jeremy Berg came in and struck out two batters and induced a game-ending fly out to record his fifth save of the year.

In addition to Wheeler and Mahoney's three hits, Rosario and Manion had two hits for the Panthers.  Rosario also was hit by a pitch for the 19th time this season, taking sole possession of the single-season record.  Wheeler moved up into a tie for third in hits (79) and tie for fourth in runs scored (55) on the school's single-season list.  On the career side, he climbed into fifth place with 143 runs scored.  Manion extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a single in the third inning.  Mahoney's double in the second inning was High Point's 111th of the season, breaking a single-season school record.  They currently have 114 on the year.  Andrews was credited with the win, his first of the year.  Corey Swickle threw 2.2 innings of scoreless ball to keep the Panthers in the game. 

For Winthrop, Tisdale, Murrian and Sullivan each had three hits, as the Eagles out-hit the Panthers, 15-14.  Rohan and Thielepape posted two hits on the day.  Monteith suffered the loss and dropped to 3-5 on the year. 

Winthrop Head Coach Joe Hudak
"I don't think we had any luck today.  We hit the ball hard all day, but we had nothing to show for it.  It was just one of those days when we had nothing go right for us.  It's a disappointing loss.  Hopefully we will get a win tomorrow and go from there."

High Point Head Coach Craig Cozart
"It was another great team effort today for us.  Our pitchers continue to throw the ball well and are giving us a chance, as we are starting to hit our stride again offensively."