STAFF REPORT
CHAPEL HILL —After a marathon non-district game that spilled into extra innings, it was a 13th inning RBI double off the bat of Branham Haynes that walked the Rockets off in a 4-3 win against the Central Magnet Tigers.
Forrest grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Brennan Mealer led off the inning with a double to center field and later in the inning, a RBI single from Luke Allen put the Rockets on the board.
Central Magnet responded with a single run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to lead 3-1.
But the rally Rockets answered and put two on with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh.
Trailing 3-1, a sac-bunt from Houston Matlock bumped the runners to second and third with one out.
That’s when Mealer slugged a line drive to right, scoring both runners to tie the game at three.
From there, the two teams put up five-straight scoreless innings.
In the 13th, Preston Gentry singled to center to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sac-bunt, bringing Haynes to the plate for the walk-off RBI double.
Allen got the nod and started for Forrest, pitching three innings, allowing three runs on four hits.
Mealer pitched two innings in relief and recorded three strikeouts, while Kason Fuller turned in dandy of an outing, going eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits, but striking out five.
Central Magnet 001 110 000 000 0 — 3 8 1
Forrest 100 000 200 000 1 — 4 11 1
Forrest: Brennan Mealer 2-for-5, Carter Walk 2-for-6, Kason Fuller 1-for-6, Preston Gentry 1-for-6, Luke Allen 2-for-5, Branham Haynes 2-for-6, Austin Dillon 1-for-4.
WP: Fuller
LP: Cook
