High Point jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Duke mounted a comeback and rallied to down the Panthers, 12-7, Tuesday evening in a steady drizzle at Jack Coombs Field in Durham.

Tony Bajoczky (1-0) got the win for the Blue Devils, while Clayton Gordner (0-4) took the loss for HPU.

The Panthers out-hit Duke by a 12-7 count. Five High Point players -- Rey Rojas, Matt Keever, Corey Stang, Nick Thompson, and Anthony Bell -- collected a pair of hits in the game.

High Point jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a five-run second inning. The Panthers took advantage of four hits and two errors in sending nine batters to the plate in the inning. Stang got things going with a lead-off double and scored on a base hit by Thompson.

Thompson eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Richardson, and Rojas' two-out double scored Bell and Josh Doane, who had reached by way of a walk and an error, respectively. Keever made it 5-0 when he singled home Rojas for the final run of the inning.

Duke (15-13) came back with one run in the third and then scored five in the bottom of the fourth to surge ahead 6-5. Adam Murray's bases-clearing, three-run triple was the biggest blow.

High Point (5-23) pulled even at 6-6 in the top of the fifth when Chris Ramirez led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a fielders' choice and then scored on a Bell base hit.

But the Blue Devils scored three times in the bottom of the frame and twice in the the sixth, and once in the eighth to take a 12-6 advantage. A ninth-inning base hit by Stang plated Keever to complete the scoring.

Phil Leake got the start for HPU and went 3 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and five runs while striking out three. Justin DiLuc allowed one hit and one run in four innings of relief for his first save of the year.

The Panthers visit Liberty this weekend for a three-game Big South series starting Friday (2:30 pm).