It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Forrest and Eagleville as the two District 9-A foes met at Hawkins Field on the campus of Vanderbilt University Monday night and the Rockets made the most of the experience in a 4-1 win over the Eagles.

"This is something they never had a chance to do before," said Forrest head coach Chris Parker. "We were all looking forward to it and hopefully, we can come back and have a chance to do it again."

Solid win

Logan Hollingsworth started on the hill for the Rockets and the sophomore righty turned in a solid performance, picking up the win in five and two-thirds innings of work.

Hollingsworth (3-0) gave up one earned run on eight hits, while striking out two and walking two Eagles' hitters.

"Hollingsworth is steady, he gets faster, bigger, and stronger every time he goes out there and he is going to do a good job for us," said Parker.

Jacob Daughrity came on for Hollingsworth with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth and put out the fire with an inning-ending groundout before pitching a solid bottom of the seventh for the save.

Change of plans

"That was a tough decision there to take out Hollingsworth and go with Daughrity," said Parker. "It was the third time they were going to face him (Hollingsworth) and I decided to go with somebody they hadn't faced before with a good off-speed pitch."

Forrest batted first and wasted a scoring opportunity in the first inning, but Hollingsworth kept the Eagles in check in the bottom of the first.

Eagleville starter Britt Roberts set down the Rockets 1-2-3 in the top of the second before the Eagles threatened again in the home half of the frame.

Christian Hill led off the inning with a single to left field before Jason Hawks hit a slow roller near the plate that Forrest catcher Austin Harber picked up and threw to first, drilling Hawks with the throw.

Escaping jam

Hawks was called out for being out of the baseline and Joshua McCrary followed with an infield single, putting Eagles on first and second.

Harber came up huge again, scurrying after a loose ball and nailing Hill, trying to steal third.

Darin Knox reached on another slow roller, but Hollingsworth escaped the jam with a ground-ball out to Tanner Garvin at first base.

In the top of the third, Austin Harmon beat out a bunt and went to second on a grounder before scoring on a Daughrity RBI base hit to left field.

Easy cruise

Hollingsworth had little trouble cruising through the third, fourth, and fifth innings unscathed.

With one out in the top of the sixth, Forrest got things going, beginning with a base hit by freshman Landon Jones.

Thaddeus Reyes came in to run for Jones and stood on third base moments later after back-to-back walks by Hollingsworth and Caleb Keller loaded the sacks full of Rockets.

Hill came to the mound in relief of Roberts after the walk to Harber and faced Garvin, who beat out a slow roller that scored Reyes and Ryan Yelensky, who came in to run for Hollingsworth, followed Reyes home on a throwing error at the plate, making it 3-0.

Hill got a strikeout for the second out before Eagleville walked Zach Horvath intentionally.

Lead extended

Daughrity kept the small ball attack going, beating out an infield hit that scored Keller to put the Rockets up 4-0.

Justin Woodard led off the bottom of the sixth with a base hit to left, but was forced at second on a grounder by Hill to Alex Brewer at short.

A passed ball, followed by a wild pitch, sent pinch runner A.J. Garza to third and Garza scored on an infield hit by McCrary, breaking up the shutout.

A pop-up to Brewer in short center made it two down before Brandon Kelley drew a walk.

Parker inserted Daughrity on the mound and he got the third out on a grounder to Jones at third, sending the game to the final inning.

Final moments

Forrest went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh and Daughrity issued a one-out walk to Tyler Vandergrift before the game ended on a pair of ground-ball outs to Brewer at short.

The Rockets (9-5, 4-1) managed eight hits in the contest with Daughrity and Brewer getting two base knocks apiece, while Harmon, Jones, Keller, and Hollingsworth all had one base hit.

"We got a few runs in when we needed to, but we left a lot on base, so we have to come back and work a little harder to drive those runs in," said Parker. "I am proud of the guys, they fought and battled, but we have to learn to drive those runs in."