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The High Point University baseball team came away with a 10-8 win in a 13-inning contest against Charleston Southern, Friday at CSU Ballpark in Charleston, S.C. Kyle Mahoney's two-run homer to left field in the 13th inning gave HPU the lead and freshman Kyle Wigmore had two strikeouts in the bottom half of the frame to secure his first career win.

“First and foremost, credit to Tyler Thornburg who was as good as advertised for Charleston Southern today,” said head coach Craig Cozart. “The true mentality of this team showed up today when we got to their bullpen and turned on the offense. Our bullpen really grew up today, making high-pressure pitch after high-pressure pitch and putting us in a position to win the game. This is a big win and it is really nice to say this team has the most wins of any HPU team in the Division I era.”

With the win HPU improves to 28-27 (14-12 Big South Conference) and set the HPU record for wins in a Division I season.

High Point trailed 7-2 in the seventh inning but the Panthers scored four runs in the eighth innings and Zach Tessier tied the game at 7-7 with a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning. A wild pitch plated Mike Mercurio in the 12th inning but CSU tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th. With the game deadlocked 8-8 in the 13th inning Mahoney connected on a 1-2 curveball to give High Point the win.

“The bullpen did a great job keeping the game close and giving the offense a chance to win the game,” Mahoney said. “He left a curveball up and I was able to hit it pretty well.”

Wigmore inherited two runners from Mikel Rodenberg in the bottom of the 12th. Charleston Southern loaded the bases on a sacrifice bunt when Wigmore tried to get the runner at third and everyone was safe. A sacrifice fly tied the game at 8-8 before Wigmore got out of the inning with a double play ball.
Wigmore pitched a perfect 13th inning with two strikeouts to pick up his first career win.

“I just went in there and did my job,” Wigmore said. “I threw strikes and it feels really good to get my first win. My slider was working well today.”

Steve Antolik continued to hit well against his former team, coming up with a two-RBI single in the first inning off CSU starter Tyler Thornburg. Antolik's basehit brought home Mercurio, who had reached on an error and stolen second and Nate Roberts who walked on four straight balls.

CSU cut the lead in half, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. Tom Burkett came up with a one-out single, moved to second on Nick Chinners groundout and scored when Walt Quattlebaum singled through the right side. Jaime Schultz got Harrison Wilkins to strike out to end the inning.

The Buccaneers took a 3-2 lead in the second inning, scoring two runs on two hits and taking advantage of a leadoff walk from to Matt Still. CSU added a run in added a run in the third with Quattlebaum leading off the inning with a single, stealing second and scoring when Derek Smith singled up the middle.

With a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning Harrison Wilkins hit his first career home run off Schultz, a liner down the right field line to make it a 5-2 Buccaneer lead.

Schultz struck out Jaren Sustar to begin the sixth inning but walked the second batter, Drew Woodall, before he was relieved by Spencer Andrews. Andrews walked and hit a batter to load the bases with only one out but escaped the jam, getting Chinners and Quattlebaum to pop up.

Schultz finished the day, allowing five runs on seven hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
Brian Jones came out of the bullpen for the seventh inning, allowing two solo home runs to Matt Still and Derek Smith to extend Charleston Southern's lead to 7-2.

Stew Brase replaced Thornburg in the eighth inning, allowing a leadoff single to Pablo Rosario and a walk to Mercurio. Roberts reached on a fielder's choice that erased Rosario and an error by Still moved Mercurio to third and Roberts to second. Gantner hit a ground ball to third base and instead of conceding a run for an out still tried to get Mercurio out at home but was unsuccessful, scoring the run and allowing Gantner to safely reach first. Antolik continued his hot weekend with his second home run of the series, a three-run blast to left field to cut CSU's lead to 7-6.

Thornburg pitched seven innings, allowing two unearned runs on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Brase was taken out of the game after the Antolik home run and Charlie McCready got the final two outs of the eighth inning.

Corey Swickle kept Charleston Southern off the scoreboard in the eighth inning, despite two HPU errors.

In the ninth inning Tessier came off the bench to pinch-hit for Rosario and took the 0-1 pitch from McCready over the left field wall for his second home run of the season.

Drew Dades allowed three hits while pitching the 10th and 11th innings but kept CSU off the scoreboard, stranding four Buccaneer runners.

HPU will go for the sweep Saturday at 2 p.m.