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The High Point University baseball team extended its winning streak to five games with a 15-13 win over Towson University Saturday at Williard Stadium. The Panthers posted double digit runs scored for the fourth consecutive game.

Freshman Jaime Schultz got the win for High Point, with one inning pitched in relief of starter Brian Jones. Junior Corey Swickle also pitched four innings of relief, allowing four runs on four hits with four strikeouts before giving way to Mikel Rodenberg who picked up his second save of the season.

“Towson came to play today,” said head coach Craig Cozart. “They are a veteran, well-coached team and we were fortunate to come out on top. We were a little inconsistent on the mound but part of becoming a good team is figuring out how to win games and we have been able to do that. Tomorrow we need a good performance on the mound as we go for the sweep.”

High Point opened up a 6-0 lead after two innings with one run in the first and five more in the second. With the bases loaded in the second inning Murray White IV singled to left field, scoring Pablo Rosario. Nate Roberts picked up two RBI with a single up the middle and would score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Matt Gantner.

In the top of the fourth Towson posted six runs to tie the game at 6-6. All six runs were credited to Brian Jones who gave up six hits, including a three-run homer to Kevin Collins. Jones allowed a single to Steve Yarsinsky after the home run before Cozart brought Schultz in to the game. Schultz walked the first batter he faced before getting Ben Winter to ground in to a fielder's choice to end the inning.

HPU answered with four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 10-6 lead. With one out Roberts was hit by a pitch to put a runner at first for Kyle Mahoney. Roberts was already running when Mahoney singled to the left side, advancing Roberts to third. Gantner doubled to left field to score both Roberts and Mahoney. Gantner scored on a single by Steve Antolik and the final run of the inning was an RBI for Bartlett as he was walked with the bases already loaded.

Schultz struggled in the fifth, allowing three runs on three hits, all with two outs on the board. Swickle relieved Schultz and got the final out of the inning striking out Yarsinsky.

Swickle posted hitless innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning. The Panthers put up three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Andrew Bartlett started the inning by reaching base on an error by the short stop. After a walk to Roberts, Mahoney singled to score Bartlett. Gantner walked and Max Fulginiti picked up an RBI with a single to left field. Antolik hit a fly ball to right field, deep enough to score Mahoney for the final run of the inning.

Towson threatened in the ninth, scoring four runs off Swickle to make it a 15-13 game but Rodenberg came out of the bullpen to get Yarsinsky to groundout to end the game. Swickle allowed four runs on four hits, including a three-run home run to Chris Wychock. Rodenberg picked up his second save of the season.

“I wanted to go back out there for the ninth,” Swickle said. “[Kyle] Mahoney and I work really well together and I was feeling really good. The home run was a fastball that Mahoney called for and I thought I made but he was able to hit it.”

Mahoney finished the day 3-4 with two RBI and two runs scored and Gantner and Antolik each had four RBI in the game.

The Panthers improve to 6-2 while Towson falls to 1-9 on the season. High Point will go for the sweep, trying to make it six straight wins on Sunday. Freshman Jared Avidon will make his second start of the season for HPU.