Senior Mark Shorey belted a pair of homers and drove in four runs but it wasn't enough as High Point dropped a 9-4 non-conference decision to long-time rival Elon on Tuesday afternoon at Erath Field.

Shorey, a native of Peabody, Mass., was responsible for all of High Point's scoring in the game going 3-for-4 with his team leading fifth and sixth homeruns.

High Point dropped its sixth consecutive game with the loss slipping to 7-16 overall while Elon improved to 13-6 on the year. The game featured seven homeruns including a season-high five by the Phoenix with 12 of the 13 runs scored accounted for via the long ball.

In the opening inning, Elon leadoff batter Donny Jobe went deep off HPU starter Zach Zupan. Following a walk to Adam Weaver, Zupan retired Chris Vasami before giving up a blast down the leftfield line to Chris Price putting the Phoenix ahead 3-0. Zupan then set down the next two hitters but that would be the end of his day.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Shorey cut the Panther deficit to 3-1 with the first of his two homeruns to right.

Elon tacked on three more runs in the second as Paul Bennett walked to lead off the frame and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Panther reliever Chris Marks. After hitting Danny Miller with a pitch to put runners on first and second, Marks surrendered a three-run shot to Jordy Snyder that pushed the Phoenix in front, 6-1.

An RBI double from Shorey plated Chris Norwood with High Point's second run of the day in the bottom of the third inning.

High Point came back in the bottom of the sixth inning, starting the rally with one out when J. Williams and Dustin Holtzman put together back-to-back singles before the Phoenix went to its fourth pitcher of the day in George Blystone. Blystone got pinch-hitter Jon Pavlack to ground out to put runners on second and third with two outs. Elon then turned to Kevin Regan who retired pinch-hitter Billy Aguiar to end the threat.

The Phoenix tacked on a run in the seventh inning when Grant Rembert singled home Vasami with Elon's seventh run of the afternoon.

Shorey struck again in the bottom of the seventh, knocking a two-run homer to centerfield to close the gap to 7-4.

Robert Rodebaugh's homer in the eighth gave Elon some more breathing room and then Vasami hit a blast to left with two outs in the top of the ninth inning for more insurance

Brian Ebert (1-0) earned his first career victory in relief. Ebert threw 1.2 innings and did not allow a hit or a run. Elon starter Justin Bors lasted 3.1 innings and struck out a career-high eight hitters. Bors allowed two runs on six hits.

Zupan suffered the defeat to fall to 0-3 this season. He lasted just 1.0 inning, allowing three runs on two hits. Marks was solid in relief for High Point pitching 5.1 innings and allowing just four hits with seven strikeouts. Glenn Jones and Zach Scott both gave up homeruns in their inning of relief work.

After playing 11 of its last 13 games at home, High Point returns to the road this weekend to open up Big South Conference play at Coastal Carolina. The Panthers and Chanticleers are set for a three-games series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.