HIGH POINT – #2 High Point defeated #4 Charleston Southern off a walk-off two-run home run by Eric Grintz to advance to the Big South Championships Finals which will be played on Saturday. The Buccaneers drop to the loser's bracket and will face #3 USC Upstate for the other spot in the Championship game.
 
Charleston Southern were the first to get on the scoreboard, and they jumped out to a massive lead. After celebrating their first run of the day, they proceeded to add another six runs to the scoreboard and lead 7-0 after an inning and a half. The Bucs loaded the bases courtesy of a pair of errors, and they scored their first off a sacrifice fly by Sam Low. Evann Long loaded the bases back up as he drew a walk after starting behind 0-2.
 
Cade Conway then had a single to right center that scored a pair. The Buccaneers loaded the bases for the third time in the inning after that as BJ Banyon got hit by a pitch. Lucas Pringle stepped to the plate and drove a double into center to clear the bases. Charleston Southern plated their final run of the inning with Chandler Tuupo getting an RBI single to bring Pringle home and put the final touch on the seven-spot.
 
The High Point offense got their offense started up in the bottom half of the inning, scoring a pair and starting to cut into their deficit. The first came off a leadoff home run which was followed by a double and RBI single.
 
In the top of the third, JJ Rivera smashed his second home run of the year to put the Bucs up at 8-2. He hit it to left field on the second pitch that he saw. However, in the bottom half of the frame, the Panthers were able to score three to bring the score to 8-5.
 
In the bottom of the 5^th, High Point had a three-run home run to bring the score level to 8-8. Later in the inning, they had a solo home run to take their first lead of the day at 9-8. The teams continued to trade blows with CSU tying the game in the top of the 7^th while HPU got the lead back in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Going into the 9^th, the Panthers still held the lead by a score of 10-9. Chandler Tuupo led the inning off with a single, and the Bucs put Aidan McAskie in to pinch-hit. With the count at 2-1, McAskie got a hold of the pitch and sent it over the left field wall to not just tie the game but shoot CSU ahead at 11-10.
 
However, High Point battled back with a two-run bomb of their own in the bottom of the ninth to walk it off and punch their ticket to the Championship on Saturday.
 
Nick Timpanelli started for CSU today and threw 2.1 innings. He allowed four earned runs and struck out four batters. Parks Ledwell was the first out of the pen and ate up the next 5.2 innings throwing 112 pitches during his time on the mound. Christian Robb picked up the loss, entering the game for the final inning of play. He recorded an out and gave up the walk-off two-run home run.
 
At the plate, Tuupo led the team Buccaneer in hits with three on the afternoon and Rivera also had multiple as he had two on the day. Conway, Banyon, Pringle and McAskie each had a hit as well. Pringle led the team in RBIs with three. Conway, Tuupo and McAskie each had two while Rivera and Low each had one.
 
#4 Charleston Southern returns to the field for the final game of day two of the tournament against #3 USC Upstate. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. with the winner advancing to Saturday's Championships and the loser eliminated.