HIGH POINT, N.C. ? The Presbyterian College ninth-inning rally came up just short as High Point was able to stave off the Blue Hose en route to the 6-5 victory Friday evening.

The Blue Hose now stand at 5-19 on the season and 1-11 in Big South Conference play. The Panthers improve to 8-16 overall and 4-7 against conference competition.

Leading the way for head coach Elton Pollock's team was redshirt-senior Jared Combs. Combs tallied a season-high four hits in five at bats. He drove home one while scoring twice. One of his base hits went for extra bases.

Andrew Williams picked up three hits in four at bats while driving in two. He also scored once. Senior Cory Lyda was the other student-athlete who posted a multi-hit contest. Lyda notched two hits and scored once. One of his hits was a triple, moving him into a tie with Pollock on the PC career list.

After High Point plated a run in the bottom half of the first, PC came back to take the lead after scoring three runs in the second.

Combs singled up the middle and moved to second on Drew Wingo's walk. Zac Rhinesmith sacrificed the two over and both came home on Williams' double. Gabe Grammer beat out an infield single, pushing Williams to third. Pollock played small ball, using Jesse Harmon to lay down a perfect bunt, plating Williams and putting runners on first and second. The hit gave PC a 3-1 lead.

With the score tied in the sixth, Combs once again came through. He led off the inning with a double to left and moved to third when Wingo reached on an error. Combs came home on Rhinesmith's single, giving PC a 4-3 advantage.

However, the Panthers plated three runs on three hits in the bottom of the sixth to give the Panthers a two-run lead.

With one out in the ninth, Lyda doubled to left center. Kenny Bryant's groundout moved him to third. Lyda came around to score on Combs' single to right.

The Blue Hose looked like they would make a comeback after Wingo singled to right field, putting runners on the corners. After a change in pitchers, Matt Hill, who came in for Wingo, scampered to second base. However, Rhinesmith struck out looking to end the game.

The Blue Hose pounded out five runs on 14 hits while committing one error. High Point scored six runs on nine hits while having two miscues.

Andrew Foushee took the loss for PC.

Jordan Pace came in to pitch the final three innings. He gave up two runs on four hits while striking out three. Garrett Moore started the contest, tossing 4.2 innings. He gave up three runs on five hits.

The two teams return to action at 6 p.m., tomorrow night for the middle game of the three-game set.