CHARLESTON, S.C. – The High Point University baseball team fell to Charleston Southern, 14-8, in the opening game of Big South play.
Site: Nielsen Field
Score: High Point 8, Charleston Southern 14
Records: High Point (6-12, 0-1), Charleston Southern (9-9, 1-0)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "I thought we played the first half of the game the way we want to play and were in control of the game. We continue to have troubles closing out games from the 6th inning on. Tonight was a combination of defensive mistakes and allowing free bases in the 6th inning. We competed offensively through the end of the game but overall, we didn't do enough positive things to deserve to win a conference game. We need to turn the page and be ready to compete after a quick turnaround into an early game tomorrow."
Brett Wozniak started the first conference game for the Panthers. Wozniak pitched five innings, allowing five runs, on eight hits, striking out seven batters. He had a solid five innings, until a little bit of life in Buccaneers offense in the sixth brought Wozniak's day to an end.
High Point got on the board in the first inning as
Konni Durschlag found himself in a bit of a rundown between first and second. Ahalt on third came in to score as Durschlag was finally tagged out heading back to first.
Adam Stuart hitting in the cleanup spot for HPU lifted one that soared over the left field wall for his second home run of the year. High Point jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
The home runs did not stop as
Cael Chatham and
Charlie Klingler both hit one over the wall in the third. Klingler's was a two-run bomb as High Point now held a 5-0 lead.
Charleston Southern hit their way on the scoreboard as two runs came across in the bottom half of the third. A defensive mishap by the Panthers led to a nine run sixth inning for the Buccaneers. They also tagged on two more runs in the seventh and eighth. Heading into the ninth, High Point was down 14-6.
A late game surge by the HPU offense led to two more runs in the ninth. Stuart came in to score off a
Sam Schner fielder's choice and Matthew Martinez came in as a pinch hitter and singled up the middle, allowing
Eric Grintz to score from third.
High Point was shut down after that as Charleston Southern took game one of the three game slate.
Up Next: High Point will face the Buccaneers for game two of the series tomorrow March 16 at 1:30 p.m.
#GoHPU
