John Cavanaugh hit a solo home run and the Panthers grabbed a come-from-behind 6-5 win over Liberty in game one of a three-game series at Erath Field. The Flames jumped out to a big lead before taking the nightcap, 12-6.

A doubleheader (originally scheduled for Saturday) was moved up a day due to the threat of rain. The teams will play a  single game Saturday at 1:00 pm at Erath Field.

Game 1 saw Nick Zaio (1-1) pick up the first win of his career in relief of HPU starter Riley Gostisha, who fanned six batters in five innings of work. Jason Jones (11-3) took the loss for the Flames. Chris Chandler pitched the ninth for his tenth save of the year.

Colin Cronin was 3-for-4 at the plate for the Panthers (25-29, 9-11 Big South) in the first game, and Rusty Bodenheimer fired two scoreless innings of relief to get the ball to Chandler.

In the second game, Liberty (29-22-2, 11-9) scored one run in the first, four in the second, two in the third, and two in the fifth to take a 9-0 lead before Andy Harney belted his second grand slam of the season (and 12th home run overall) to pull the Panthers within 9-4.

Alex Dooley (7-4) got the win in Game 2 for the Flames, while Clayton Gordner (3-3) was saddled with the loss.

The results of Friday's games assure the Panthers of the No. 5 seed in next week's Big South Tournament in Rock Hill, S.C., where they'll face Liberty (which clinched the No. 4 seed with one win) at a time to be determined.