CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — The High Point baseball team traveled to the University of Virginia to play the No. 8 ranked Cavaliers in a nonconference mid-week matchup. Taking the lead early, the Panthers fell to the Cavaliers, 8-3.
Site: Disharoon Park
Score: High Point 3 , No. 8 Virginia 8
Records: High Point (7-13), No. 8 Virginia (18-2)
Joey Hammond: "I thought we learned a lot about our club today even though we didn't have the result we had looked for. We played a clean baseball game from start to finish against a top 10 team on the road. That has been an area of needed improvement lately and it was good to see us play that way. Hopefully we can build off of this game and carry it over into this weekend. That's a supremely talented team (UVA) and we were just a couple tough bounces away from it being totally different."
Leading off the game in style for the Panthers,
Brett Ahalt rocked the first pitch of the game over the left field wall to put High Point up 1-0.
Braden Halladay started on the mound for the Panthers, allowing two hits and one run in the bottom of the first. The Cavaliers scored their first run of the game from a single through the right side.
UVA took a two-run lead in the bottom of the second with a two-run homer over left field.
In the bottom of the third, High Point held Virginia from scoring by getting the first out on a throw down to third to pick off the runner. A routine play by
Cael Chatham to first base secured the second out and after allowing runners on second and third,
Jackson Melton tossed one over to Chatham at third for the force out. Melton had a solid performance in the field at shortstop, contributing nine assists and two putouts for the game.
High Point went cold at the plate through the next two innings, while the Cavaliers added two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-1 lead. Identical hits down the left field line in the bottom of the sixth and seventh helped extend Virginia's lead to seven.
Answering back, High Point registered two runs in the top of the eighth to close the gap to five.
Cole Singsank led off the inning with a double to left center field.
Trenton Pallas followed with a single to right field and advanced to second base on the throw from right field to home as Singsank crossed the plate. Pallas advanced to third on a wild pitch before Ahalt brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Unable to close the gap in the ninth, the Panthers fell, 8-3. High Point witnessed pitching from various pitchers throughout the game, including a season debut from
Will Burgess.
Up Next: The Panthers return home for a weekend series with Big South foe USC Upstate beginning on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. The second game will follow on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. before the final game on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
