The High Point baseball team exploded for eight runs in the fifth inning busting open a tight contest and rolling to a 10-2 victory over Liberty on Saturday afternoon at Coy O. Williard, Sr. Stadium.

HPU (12-14, 1-1 Big South) evened the series with the Flames (16-9, 3-2) after pounding out 17 hits and holding Liberty off the board until the eighth inning.

Panther starter Eammon Portice (3-3) kept the Liberty batters at bay for much of the game scattering just three hits over seven shutout innings of work. Portice allowed just one runner to reach second base and recorded six strikeouts to up his league leading total to 61 this year.

Jeff Cowan went 4-for-5 at the plate to lead a group of six HPU players with multiple-hit performances on Saturday. Liberty finished with seven total hits as seven different players each tallied one hit.

"We needed a good start and we got one," said HPU head coach Sal Bando, Jr. "Eammon threw really well and gave us a chance. Hitters hit the ball hard and it was just right at some guys. We felt offensively that we were going to break it open sooner or later with the way we were making hard contact. The fact that we scored eight with two outs showed great concentration and no quit."

High Point took an early 1-0 lead scoring a run in the bottom of the first. Cowan doubled and moved to third on a groundout by Bill Manion before scoring on an RBI-single from Randy Schwartz.

After a trio of scoreless frames, HPU seized the momentum by sending 14 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs on seven hits in the fifth inning. The Panthers did all their damage with two outs in the frame benefiting from a catcher's interference to extend the inning.

Robby Kuzdale fouled out to the catcher to lead off the fifth. Cowan and Billy Alvino followed with back-to-back singles putting runners on second and third as Alvino moved up on a throw from the Liberty outfield. Manion then grounded out to the pitcher. Schwartz again delivered a scoring blow driving in a pair of runs with a single to up the score to 3-0.

J. Williams and Eric Marion both singled to add another run to the HPU total. Pablo Rosario drew a walk to load the bases and Alfie Wheeler appeared to ground out to end the inning, but Liberty catcher Errol Hollinger was charged with interference allowing Wheeler to reach base and Williams to score. Kuzdale came up for the second time in the inning, lacing a base-clearing triple to right field to make the score 8-0. After a walk by Cowan, Alvino singled home Kuzdale for the final run of the frame.

Liberty starter Dustin Umberger (2-3) suffered the loss after allowing 11 hits and nine runs (four earned) in 4.2 innings of work.

The Panthers added a final score in the seventh as Manion walked, moved to third on a double by Schwartz and scored on a single by Marion.

The Flames struck for a pair of runs in the eighth to avoid their first shutout in over three years. Singles by Aaron Phillips and Derek Bennion followed by a run-scoring double from Phil John against HPU reliever Glenn Jones got Liberty on the board. P.K. Keller plated the squad's second run with an sacrifice fly to fight.

In addition to Cowan's strong offensive performance, HPU also got solid hitting numbers from Kuzdale (2-for-5, 3 RBI), Schwartz (3-for-5, 3 RBI) and Marion (3-for-5, 2 RBI). The game marked the eighth time this season that High Point has scored double-digit runs and their 14th double-digit hit performance.

High Point and Liberty will conclude their three-game weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m. HPU senior Brandon Moore takes the hill for the Panthers against LU sophomore Tyler Light.