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• High Point earned a 6-2 win in the series opener at Winthrop on Friday afternoon.
• The game between the Panthers and Eagles began on Thursday night but play was suspended in the seventh due to inclement weather.
• Senior Spencer Angelis went 3-5 in the contest with a home run, two RBI and a run scored.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team took the first game of its weekend series at Winthrop with a 6-2 win on Friday afternoon in Rock Hill, S.C. The game began on Thursday night and was suspended due to inclement weather before resuming on Friday.

"This was an unusual way to start a series but this game in its entirety had a great feel to it," head coach Craig Cozart said. "We got what we needed on the mound, turned a few double plays and played clean defense. This is a great win to open the series."

Senior John McGillicuddy earned his fourth-straight win for the Panthers to improve to 4-3 on the mound for the season. The right-hander threw 6-1/3 innings and allowed just one earned run on six hits and one walk while striking out three.

Sam Kmiec took the loss for Winthrop and dropped to 3-3 on the season. Kmiec pitched six innings and gave up six runs, five earned, on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.

HPU improves to 15-13 overall and 5-2 in the Big South with the win. Winthrop drops to 19-11 overall and 2-5 in conference play.

Senior Spencer Angelis got the Panthers on the board with a solo home run in the top of the first inning. Angelis went the other way with a 2-2 pitch and hit a high fly ball that sailed over the wall in right for his third home run of the season.

The Panthers doubled the lead in the third with a run on an RBI double by senior Josh Spano to go ahead, 2-0. Freshman Hunter Lee was hit by a pitch and came around from first to score on Spano's line drive into the left field corner.

High Point extended its lead to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly by senior Tony Fortier-Bensen to score sophomore Chris Clare in the fifth. The HPU second baseman singled to leadoff the inning and moved to third when he stole second and advanced on a throwing error by the Eagle catcher.

Winthrop cut into the Panther lead with a run in the sixth, but High Point came right back with three runs in the top of the next inning to go up 6-1. The first run of the inning came on Clare's second home run of the season. The sophomore led off the seventh with a solo shot to left to put HPU in front by a 4-1 margin. Lee then drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Angelis hit an RBI single to score the next two runs.

Play was stopped on Friday with High Point ahead, 6-1, in the bottom of the seventh due to rain.

Winthrop scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Brad Kaczka when play resumed on Saturday but a double play with two men on ended the contest.

Angelis finished 3-5 at the plate with a home run, two RBI and a run scored while Clare went 2-4 with a home run, an RBI and two runs scored. Fortier-Bensen and Lee also recorded both an RBI and a run scored in the win.

The second game of the series between HPU and Winthrop begins at 6:00 p.m., on Friday, April 3, in Rock Hill, S.C.

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