'Cats Drop 12-11 Extra-Inning Heartbreaker Tuesday

Tuesday, February 21

Davidson, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

2-2

High Point

3-1

High Point

Davidson

Photo by: DavidsonPhotos.com

'Cats Drop 12-11 Extra-Inning Heartbreaker Tuesday

2/21/2017 11:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

DavidsonPhotos.com
Box Score (PDF)
Video Highlights

DAVIDSON, N.C. – In reversal of last season's extra-inning walk-off victory against High Point, Davidson baseball dropped a heartbreaking affair Tuesday at Wilson Field, falling 12-11 in 10 innings to the Panthers.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats cranked out 16 hits, with five players recording multi-hit days. The offense was led by sophomore Justin Lebek's 3-for-4 performance, where he notched two RBI and also scored twice. Classmate Eric Jones, junior Alec Acosta, and seniors Brian Fortier and Tyler Agard each turned in two hits apiece, including home runs by Jones and Fortier.

High Point wasted no time getting on the board, using a walk and a single to get two runners on for reigning National Player of the Week Carson Jackson, who jacked his fourth homer in the last three games, putting the Panthers up 3-0.

The 'Cats responded right away, as Jones took the first pitch he saw and belted it over the left field wall. After senior Jake Sidwell followed that up with a single through the right side, Fortier found his own pitch, also to left field, to bring the first of four ties in the contest.

After a double and two more homers put High Point back up 6-3 in the 2^nd, Davidson began to slowly chip away at the lead, scoring a run in the bottom of that frame and another in the fourth to cut the lead to one.

HPU added insurance in the 5^th, using four hits and an error to score twice and lead 8-5. The 'Cats responded with force, as Fortier led off the inning reaching via error, took second on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a single from classmate Will Robertson. Fortier and Acosta, who reached on a walk, came home as Lebek forced a fielding error, and then Robertson made a daring dash home on a wild pitch to score the then-equalizer. Davidson took the lead the next batter, as Agard singled in Lebek to go up 9-8.

The lead remained intact until the 8^th, when a pair of walks and a Jackson double gave the Panthers control once more. Once again, it was short lived.

Jones led off the frame with a single up the middle, and after senior Cameron Marshall took over as a pinch runner, he scored on an Acosta hit, also up the middle.
High Point capitalized on a dropped ball in the outfield to go up 11-10 in the 9^th, before the 'Cats knotted it up once more. Sophomore Max Bazin walked, advanced on a Lebek sac bunt, took third on a passed ball, and scored on a perfectly placed pinch-hit single from junior Andrew Born.

The Panthers plated what was ultimately the winning run in the 10^th, using three hits to go up for the final time at 12-11.

Senior Cody White made his 2017 debut for the 'Cats, tossing 2.2 innings of relief, allowing no runs and striking out three. Sophomore Andrew Ashur also recorded a solid stat line, working 1.2 frames scattering just one hit and picking up two Ks.

Davidson returns to action Friday, for a weekend round-robin like tournament, where they will host UMass Lowell at 6 p.m., and then face Lehigh on Saturday and Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday.