GREENSBORO, NC – The UNC Greensboro baseball squad dropped an early 7-3 lead and fell to non-conference rival High Point, 12-9, on Wednesday afternoon at First Horizon Park.
High Point (5-7) reliever Tom Boleska received the win after allowing one hit in 1-2/3 innings on the mound. Boleska knocked out a team-high three batters.
UNCG's Clinton McKinney (2-1) suffered the loss in relief after giving up four hits and four runs in just one inning of mound duty.
The Panthers jumped out to the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first off a Chris Norwood two-run homerun. The Spartans quickly responded at the top of the second with a pair of runs of their own. With the bases loaded, junior Ricky Orton sent a sacrifice fly to right field to bring freshman Scott Schneider in for the score. UNCG used another sacrifice fly to bring a run in.
UNCG (3-4) continued to pour on the runs in the following inning. After Schneider grabbed a walk, junior Joel Johnson blasted his first homerun as a Spartan over the fence for the 4-2 advantage. High Point added another run at the bottom of the third but UNCG went into the fourth with the 4-3 lead.
Leading off in the fourth, Orton sent his first homerun in the UNCG uniform for the two-run advantage. The Spartans used a sacrifice bunt and fly to tag on two more runs to take the 7-3 lead. High Point, however, tied the game up at seven in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded, catcher Billy Alvino hit a double to bring two runs around home. With the help of a fly-out and a single, the Panthers grabbed two more runs going into the sixth.
The two teams exchanged runs in the following two innings going into the top of the eighth. UNCG's Adam Deleo scored off an error by the High Point short stop. The Spartans entered the bottom of the eighth with the slim 9-8 lead. A Norwood single, however, tied the game back up again and a single from Alvino gave the Panthers the lead for good. High Point added two more runs to take the 12-9 win.
Orton and Johnson led the Spartans in batting, each tallying a homerun. Orton finished 2-for-4 from the plate with two RBI, while Johnson went 2-for-5 with two RBI as well. Schneider and Deleo each tallied two hits in the loss for UNCG.
High Point's Alvino led the Panthers after going 3-for-5 from the plate with a game-high four RBI. He was followed by Matt Schlanger who finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and Norwood went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a homerun.
The Spartans play host to Army on March 2-4 at UNCG Baseball Stadium. First pitch set for Friday at 6 pm.
AGATE
Score by Innings R H E
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UNC Greensboro...... 022 301 010 - 9 10 5
High Point................ 201 040 14X - 12 12 4
Pitchers: UNCG – Gilliam; McCall (5); Starnes (5); McKinney (6); Gibson (8); Judd (8)
Pitchers: High Point – Miller; Christie (2); Zupan (5); Jennings (6); Chlebenikow (8); Boleska (8)
Win – Tom Boleska (1-0) Loss – Clinton McKinney (2-1)
- UNCG -
