CONWAY, S.C. – Sophomore righthander Eammon Portice matched his career high with 12 strikeouts and pitched into the 10th inning as the High Point Panthers made a triumphant return to the Big South Conference Tournament with a 1-0 victory over host Coastal Carolina on Wednesday night at Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field.

The win raises High Point's season mark to 27-30 and gives the Panthers a new Division I high for victories in a season, surpassing their 26 wins in 2002. With the loss, Coastal drops to 29-26 on the season. HPU advances to face Liberty at 7 p.m., on Thursday night while CCU next meets UNC Asheville at 3 p.m.

With one out in the 10th, Matt Gantner tallied a pinch hit single to right and moved to second when Alfie Wheeler was hit by a pitch. Jeff Cowan then delivered a two-strike single up the middle plating Gantner with the winning run.

In the bottom of the 10th, Coastal used a pair of walks and a single to load the bases following a leadoff groundout. HPU reliever Tom Boleska then replaced Portice on the hill and closed the game by striking out Adam Vrable and getting Dom Duggan to ground out to second.

The game was a pitcher's dual from the start as neither team was able to scratch over the first nine innings of play. Both team's had chances to score as High Point loaded the bases in the fourth with one out but stranded all the runners, and Coastal packed the sacks in the fifth only to see the Panthers wiggle out of the jam unscathed.

The pitchers – Portice and the CCU combination of Andy DeLaGarza and Travis Risser – dominated the rest of the way as neither pitching staff allowed a single hit from the fourth to the ninth inning.

"This was a tremendous baseball game that nobody deserved to lose," said HPU head coach Sal Bando, Jr. "We had some chances to score early but just weren't able to push a run across. Coastal Carolina did a great job of keeping us in check. I thought that (Eammon) Portice was exceptional tonight and proved that he is definitely a big-game pitcher. I am very proud of the whole team."

Coastal defensive substitute Duggan finally ended the drought with an infield hit to lead off the ninth. A strikeout, wild pitch moved him to second and then he advanced to third on a groundout to second leaving him just 90 feet from victory. Portice then buckled down getting David Sappelt to hit chopper back to him to end the threat.

For the game, Portice worked 9.1 innings allowing no runs on just five hits with the career high in strikeouts. Portice improved to 7-5 on the year with the win while Boleska worked two-thirds of an inning to pick up his fourth save. Risser suffered the loss to slip to 3-3.

High Point mustered just seven hits of its own with Cowan leading the way with a 2-for-4 performance including the game winner.

Top seeded Birmingham-Southern faces second seed Winthrop in Thursday's opening round game at 11 a.m. in the loser's bracket followed by CCU-UNCA and HPU-LU.