ATHENS, Ga. – The High Point University baseball team fell to No. 5 University of Georgia, 8-4, on Tuesday afternoon.
Site: Foley Field
Score: High Point 4, Georgia 8
Records: High Point (9-4), Georgia (14-1)
Head Coach Joey Hammond: "I was proud of our guys for the fight and effort. Tip your hat to Georgia, they are a top five team in the country for a reason. They're really talented and take advantage of some opportunities. I felt like we left a lot of meat on the bone though. We had three different opportunities with men on third and no one out. We couldn't cash in on them, and that made the difference in the game. We couldn't get a big hit and that is hard to do. They got real arms out there, but we couldn't get that big two out RBI. You don't have to get the two out RBI's if you take the ones that are a bit easier to get. I felt like we battled in there good. Adrian (Montenegro) was incredible to keep the game steadied where it was, but they got a couple big hits. They drove in three runs with two RBIs with two outs late in the game, and that was the difference. I liked our fight; we're in a good spot. You just don't have any margin for error against a top five team on the road."
Cord Butler got the start for HPU on Tuesday night. Butler got hit around after just completing one inning on the mound, allowing six hits, and four runs. Montenegro relieved Butler in the second inning as he shoved a solid five innings, allowing one run on three hits, striking out three batters to keep HPU in the game. Butler was tallied with the loss to move his record to 1-2 on the year.
High Point got on the board in the top if the first after
Landen Johnson sent a fly ball to right field allowing
Konni Durschlag to tag from third. The Bulldogs had a quick answer in their first at-bats as they went back-to-back to start the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, the Bulldogs tallied two more runs before recording its first out. A double and a single to right field brought home the third and fourth runs for UGA. Another HPU SAC fly scored
James Murphy to cut the Bulldogs deficit in half in the top of the third.
UGA had another answer for High Point as they scored another run off a sacrifice fly out to right field in the bottom frame of the third inning. A scoreless fourth frame from both teams as Montenegro sat the Bulldogs down in order.
After making an outstanding running catch on the warning track, Durschlag smacked a solo home run over the left field wall in the fifth to make it a 5-3 game. Another 1-2-3 inning from Montenegro thanks to a clutch inning ending double play held the Bulldogs off the board.
With the bases loaded and one out,
Jackson Melton flew out to center field and scored Murphy as he tagged up from third. High Point cut the lead to one run on the No. 5 Bulldogs.
Two back-to-back two out doubles by UGA scored its sixth run to break the lead back open. High Point went down unscathed in the eighth, before the Bulldogs had a big bottom half of the frame scoring two more runs to take a four-run lead on three hits. The insurance runs from UGA in the eighth inning was enough to silent the High Point bats as they fell to the top-ranked Bulldogs, 8-4.
Up Next: High Point will host Stonehill College for a three-game series back at Williard Stadium starting at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 7.
#GoHPU
