Sophomore righthander Eammon Portice continued his string of strong performances in Big South play pitching the High Point Panthers to a 5-1 victory over the VMI Keydets in the series opener between the pair on Friday at Erath Field.

Portice, who improved to 4-4 overall and 3-0 in conference action, allowed just four hits and only one run in 6.2 innings of work. He also gave up just one walk while striking out a season best nine hitters en route to the victory.

The win, HPU's eighth in its last nine games, moves the Panthers to 7-3 in Big South action and 16-20 overall. VMI drops its fifth straight game to slip to 2-5 in conference play and 20-11 on the year. The seven Big South victories is the most for High Point since recording nine in 2002.

"Eammon had another dominating performance on the mound for us," said HPU head coach Sal Bando, Jr. "When he has it going like that it makes things easier for us and much tougher on our opponent. I thought we played solid defense and took advantage of some early scoring opportunities. This was a big win for us and I thought it was a great team effort."

In addition to Portice's day on the hill, HPU also got 2.1 innings of perfect relief from the combination of Glenn Jones, Brandon Moore and Bubba O'Donnell to close out the win. O'Donnell struck out a pair on the way to his team-leading fifth save this year.

At the plate, High Point's top six batters in the lineup all recorded hits with first baseman Randy Schwartz leading the way with a 3-for-3 performance. Chris Norwood, Mark Shorey and Billy Aguiar each recorded a pair of hits on the afternoon. Schwartz and freshman Jeff Cowan both reached base to extend their season long hit streaks to nine games apiece.

The Panthers got on the board in the bottom of the first as designated hitter Chris Marks singled to drive in Norwood from third.

HPU pushed the lead to 5-0 with four runs in the second. Schwartz singled and stole second. Ryan Laboy walked and Alfie Wheeler was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Cowan singled in Schwartz and a throwing error on the relay allowed Laboy to score and advance the runners one base. Norwood grounded out but scored Wheeler and then Shorey doubled in Cowan to conclude the scoring in the frame.

With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Portice induced a pop-out and fly-out to escape without allowing a run. He then set down the next six VMI batters he faced including four strikeouts. In the top of the seventh, B.T. Good led off with a single and moved to third on a single up the middle by Klint Reed. Good scored the Keydets lone run of the game as A.J. Yoder grounded into a double-play.

Travis Smink (5-1) took the loss for VMI after working five-innings allowing nine hits and giving up all five HPU runs. Corey Bachman and Richard Litwin combined to hold High Point scoreless over the final three innings.

High Point and VMI are slated to play game two of their three-game set on Saturday at 1 p.m. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. Forecasts call for strong chances of heavy rain throughout the day on Saturday, which could force the pair to play a series-ending doubleheader on Sunday.

The HPU website (www.highpointpanthers.com) will keep fans up-to-date on the status of Saturday's game as soon as information becomes available.