LASKER — Defense was the name of the game as the Northeast Academy Eagles defeated Faith Christian School Patriots by a 3-2 score in diamond action here Friday.

The first inning gave an indication of what was to come.

In the top of the first, Eagles pitcher Will Glover struck out the first two batters before allowing a single to left field by Chase Roupp who took second as the left fielder was unable to field the ball cleanly.

Cleanup hitter Brandon Sanderford followed with a single to center. Centerfielder Benton Barrett came up with a strong throw and nailed Roupp at home for the third out.

In the bottom of the first, Ryan Williams led off for the Eagles with a solid single to center, but was left stranded as the Eagles could not come up with a timely base knock.

The Eagles finally got the scoring started in the third as they plated a run on another single by Williams, consecutive walks to Justin Williford and Willie Rose and a fielder’s choice groundout by Clay Robbins.

Meanwhile, Glover was dealing on the mound, retiring the side in order in both the second and third innings and giving up a single in the fourth.

However, the Patriots broke through to tie the score in the top of the fifth.  Josh Overton led off the inning with a walk.  Dustin Hendricks sacrificed him to second. With two outs, Patriot leadoff batter Christian Davis singled, scoring Hendricks.  Davis was then thrown out trying to steal as Williams made a strong throw to second and the tag was applied by shortstop Logan Simonowich.

The Eagles came right back to retake the lead in the bottom of the inning. After two were out, Clay Robbins delivered with a double to left-center field. Robbins moved to third on a wild pitch and scored as Glover’s grounder was not fielded cleanly by the Patriot’s shortstop.

The Patriots tried to get the run back in the top of the sixth as Luke Roberson lead off with a single. But again the strong arm of Eagle’s catcher Williams threw out another would be base stealer ending the Patriot threat.

The seventh inning did see the Patriots come back and tie the score. Designated hitter, Aaron Lancaster worked Glover for a leadoff walk. Cody Manning reached first on an error.  Overton then dropped down a sacrifice bunt putting runners at second and third with one out.  A suicide squeeze bunt by Hendricks was successful as Lancaster beat the throw home, giving the Patriots a tie and putting runners at the corners with one out.

Nick Craft then flew out to center fielder Barrett who once again thwarted the Patriots with a throw home that caught Manning trying to tag and score from third for the final out of the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, freshman Simonowich got a one out double and seemed to be stranded as the next two batters popped up. One was caught, but the other wasn’t as Simonowich crossed the plate with the winning run.

Leading the hitting for the Eagles were Williams and Simonowich with two hits each. Glover picked up the win with an eight-inning, six strikeout, five hit pitching performance. Barrett and Williams were defensive standouts throwing out two base runners each.

The Eagles record stands at 2-1 as they move back into Tarheel Independent Conference play Monday against Pungo Christian Academy.