HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University baseball team faced off against App State on Tuesday afternoon at Williard Stadium. In the non-conference matchup, the Mountaineers gave the Panthers a tough matchup, resulting in their first loss of the season, 16-7.
Site: Williard Stadium
Score: High Point 7, App State 16
Records: High Point (3-1), App State (4-0)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: " I felt like we showed up, we were ready to play, ready to compete and things were going like a typical baseball game would for about half the game. We had some hard balls hit right at some people which was some unfortunate luck there, but we answered the bell and tied it up, but then obviously the game got blown open there in the sixth inning. They made more pitches than us, they made more plays than us and we gave more bases away than they did and you know they were just tougher than us tonight. I was a little frustrated with the way reacted as a team to some adversity, but we will fix that. I say this all the time, we will find out what we're made of when we face adversity. We will learn from it and get back after it this weekend and do a better job."
The opening innings witnessed a slow start for both teams as one hit was recorded for each, through the first three innings. App State got things going in the top of the fourth.
The Mountaineers almost scored the first run of the game, early in the fourth, off a single to left field but the teamwork of
Brett Ahalt and
Cael Chatham gunned the runner going home down.
With two outs, App State managed to sneak in two runs with a single through the right center field, which was followed by another single through the right-side gap. A fly out to right field secured out number three.
High Point answered big to the Mountaineers 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Tying the game at three all,
Blake Sutton hit a two-run homer deep over right center field to make it 3-2, App State. Next in line was
Cole Singsank, who followed up with another deep bomb, this time over left field, to tie the game at 3-3.
After making for an exciting game, the six inning saw some turbulence for the Panthers as the Mountaineers batted around to score nine runs, seven of which were unearned.
Digging a deep hole with a 10-run difference, Sutton smoked another homer to right center field, to add two runs to make it 13-5.
The last two runs of the night for the Panthers were scored off two freshman hits in the bottom of the eighth.
Jack Pokorak and
Matthew Martinez each dropped a single to help HPU cut the game to 15-7.
App State added one run in the top of the ninth, ending the game 16-7.
#GoHPU
