Box Score BOX SCORE

For the second consecutive game the High Point University baseball team put up more hits than VMI but came away with a loss. The Keydets beat HPU 17-12, riding a 10-run sixth inning. The Panthers finish the regular season 24-31 (9-18 Big South) and are the No. 8 seed in the Big South Conference Tournament.

“As a team we are going to focus on the fact that we got our offense going this weekend,” said head coach Craig Cozart. “We will hopefully carry that momentum in to the conference tournament this week. We like how our pitching rotation lines up in those games and we are optimistic about making a run at the championship.”

Ryan Retz was 2-5 in the loss, hitting his seventh home run of the season and second of the series. He scored a run and drove in three. Murray White IV and Preston Packrall each had three hits in the game.

A five-run third inning gave HPU the lead after Mike Petilli gave up four runs in the first two innings. The Panthers scored five runs on six singles and two VMI errors. Steve Antolik and Robbie Gilles each had RBI singles in the inning and Gilles scored on a throwing error by catcher Alex Haitsuka.

Petilli lasted just 1-2/3 innings before leaving the game due to injury. He gave up four runs, two earned, on two hits with one strikeout.

Steven Schils kept HPU in the game after relieving Petilli, throwing 3-2/3 innings. He held the Keydets scoreless in the third and fourth innings before running in to trouble in the fifth. VMI scored three runs in the fifth to knot the score 6-6.

VMI broke the game open with a 10-run sixth inning. Eight of the Keydets runs came off Kyle Wigmore who recorded just one out in the inning. He gave up eight runs on five hits while walking one batter and hitting two. Adam Pratson came out of the bullpen and recorded the final out of the inning after giving up a run of his own. Schils allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeouts for the day. He took the loss, his second of the season. Pratson went 1-1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts.

Down 17-6, the Panthers stayed in the game, scoring a run in the seventh inning on an RBI single by Packrall. HPU tacked on five runs in the eighth, cutting VMI's lead to 17-12. Ryan Retz had a two-run homer in the inning and Antolik picked up an RBI with a double.

Packrall moved from shortstop to the mound for the eighth inning, allowing one hit but keeping the Keydets from adding to their lead.

Gilles was 2-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, extending his hitting streak to a career-long nine games.

HPU will play on Tuesday in the first round of the Big South Conference Tournament hosted by VMI in Lexington, Va.