Baseball: High Point sneaks past UNC

It was apparent from the first pitch: Tuesday was not the night for No. 4 North Carolina.

High Point started the game with a single on the first throw and ended up with a come-from-behind 11-9 win.

Everyone wearing light blue was at a loss to explain it.

The hitting was fine. UNC (27-10) put up 10 hits in the game" and third baseman Kyle Seager couldn't see anything wrong with UNC's offensive strategy.

""We hit a couple balls hard. I thought we had a good approach tonight" Seager said.

We scored nine runs" so we didn't not score.""

There wasn't really a problem with pitching" either.

Despite High Point's 16 hits on the evening" the Panthers (14-17) didn't send many balls deep.

There were many more balls that fell just perfectly between the outfield and infield. Or balls that skidded just past the glove of an infielder.

""You gotta shake those off" pitcher Matt Harvey said. I gave you what I had" and you found a hole. Just kind of tip your cap to the hitter.""

Harvey pitched three and one-third innings of relief work Tuesday and gave up five runs on seven hits.

Jimmy Messer gave UNC three and two-thirds innings of work in the starting role despite giving up three runs in the opening inning.

His were needed innings from a UNC bullpen that has suffered injuries recently. Relievers Brian Moran and Nate Striz both have missed time due to fatigue.

""We needed Jimmy to throw three or four innings"" Fox said. We just didn't have a lot of guys available.""

And though the Tar Heels managed to field two of their best pitchers in Harvey and Colin Bates"" it didn't matter — High Point hitters just found the holes again and again.

""Tonight was one of those nights where everything they hit fell in"" Fox said. And that's just part of baseball.""

The chief architects of the bloop-fest were the top of High Point's order — Jeff Cowan"" Alfie Wheeler and Bill Manion. The trio combined for nine of High Point's 16 hits and nine of its 11 runs.

""They were just staying in there on everything" Harvey said.

They didn't take too many pitches. If they saw a fastball first pitch" they'd jump all over it.""

To contrast" the Tar Heels made plenty of solid contact with the ball but nothing fell or left the park — especially in the later innings.

Ackley sent one shot over the wall foul and in the ninth inning" Seager's deep fly ball was caught at the warning track.

""You're like" you know what? It just might not be our night" Fox said. And it wasn't.""

Things came to a head in the last three innings of the game. Up 7-5 at the top of the seventh inning" UNC looked to be in control of the game.

But the Panthers put up six runs in the next two innings to pull ahead and UNC could only manage two hits for the rest of the game.

After High Point retook the lead with three runs in the top of the seventh UNC rallied by loading the bases and even walking in two runs.

But with the bases loaded one out and UNC poised to reestablish control of the game Brett Thomas hit a liner straight at the shortstop" and Levi Michael was caught off the base for a double play.

""We were hoping for a fly ball there" or anything to get us more than one run in the lead" Fox said. But it just didn't happen.""



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.