ROCK HILL, S.C. – Down 6-1 early, No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina hit four home runs to defeat No. 4 High Point 15-9 in Friday night’s semifinal of the Big South Baseball Championship at The Winthrop Ballpark.

The Chanticleers improved to 50-7 and advanced to the championship game. High Point fell to 31-28 and was scheduled to play No. 2 Liberty later Friday in an elimination contest. Rain wiped out that game, however, moving it to 11 a.m. today. The winner then will have to beat Coastal twice to steal the league crown and advance to the NCAA Regionals.

“Our guys played very hard today, but for every pitcher we had, they had an offensive answer,” Panthers coach Craig Cozart said of the Chants. “It shows how strong they are as a team, because they beat you in so many ways. Our guys are ready: We will get the win and see Coastal again.”

After lightning and rain delayed the start of Friday’s game 1 hour, 43 minutes, High Point sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning and jumped to a 3-0 lead. Matt Gantner had an RBI single off Coastal starter Josh Conway and Kyle Mahoney added a two-run single. In the second inning, Mike Mercurio belted a two-out solo home run to make it 4-0 on his first career homer, and it was 6-1 entering the bottom of the fourth.

There, Daniel Bowman connected for a grand slam off Al Yevoli, and in the fifth, Scott Woodward and Jose Iglesias hit back-to-back solo homers to tie the game at 7-7.

Coastal took its first lead of the game in the sixth when new High Point pitcher Spencer Andrews balked in Bowman, and the lead grew to 10-7 before the Chants padded their cushion with five in the eighth.

“I told the kids in the huddle that this is one of the biggest wins of the season,” Coastal coach Gary Gilmore said. “Honestly, they had the momentum and were effective on the mound. Bowman’s swing got us going. It was a collection of other good at-bats by a lot of guys.”