High Point took the first step toward the only possible road to the Big South Tournament with a 6-1 win over Liberty Friday afternoon at Lynchburg's Worthington Stadium.

Coupled with Winthrop's 11-1 win over Radford Friday, the Panthers now control their own destiny, but need to sweep the two remaining games with the Flames to qualify for the six-team tournament.

The Panthers grabbed an early 5-0 lead with three runs in the first inning and two in the third. Rey Rojas singled to left-center to drive in Colin Cronin and Matt Christie for the first two runs of the game. The final run of the first inning came when Ken Keesee singled up the middle to bring in Rojas. Both of the runs in the third inning were scored when Kemp Smith hit a two-run home run to left field with Christie on base. It was Smith's team-leading seventh homer of the season.

The score stayed the same until Liberty scored its lone run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Michael Just singled to bring in Doug Bechtold.

HPU added a run in the top of the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 6-1.

The Panthers were led at the plate by Rojas and Smith, who each went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Kevin Burch (5-7) pitched 7.2 innings, giving up just one run on eight hits to pick up the win. Mark Shorey pitched the final 1.1 innings without giving up a hit to pick up his fifth save of the season.

For Liberty, Larry Wayne York went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 24 games. David Bechtold gave up six runs and nine hits in 8.1 innings of work to take the loss and drop his record to 4-4 on the season.