TUNNEL HILL, Ga. -- Before stepping back on the mound and then checking the tying runner at first base, Northwest Whitfield left-hander Logan Hilton reached down toward his ankles for a pitcher's stretch focused on relieving the cramps in his hamstrings.
Hilton, who had thrown more than 100 pitches in limiting Region 7-AAA rival Heritage to four hits in the first six innings Tuesday evening, needed one last out to finish a gritty game that the senior had opened with three no-hit innings.
Facing the Generals' Harrison Horsley, who had hit a single in his previous at-bat, Hilton found the perfect touch on the off-speed portion of his arsenal to end the Bruins' 6-5 victory with a strikeout.
"It was nice to finish it with a strikeout," said Hilton, who's 5-1 for the season. "The back of my hamstrings were cramping up, but my arm felt fine. I was just gassed a little bit. I wanted to finish the game. I thought to myself, 'Just get these last three outs.'"
Entering the seventh with a 6-3 lead courtesy of five runs in the Bruins' fifth and sixth innings, Hilton got the first batter to fly out to left field. Noah Hill and Tristan Tennant then rapped back-to-back doubles and Jonathan Hickman singled home Tennant to bring the Generals within one run.
"In that last inning, I had somebody ready and I almost went out there a couple of times, but Logan said he was good and he was. He legs were just a little tired," Bruins coach Todd Middleton said. "His changeup was really good, especially at the end of the game."
Hilton's pitching needed to be sharp as the Bruins posted just three hits in the contest, scoring their first two runs without the benefit of a hit. They trailed 2-1 heading into the fifth inning, when they had a hit batter and three walks before Phillip Hammnds delivered a two-run single to give Northwest a 5-2 lead.
The Bruins (9-4, 6-1) picked up what proved to be the winning run in the sixth during another unearned sequence. A walk to Omar Hernandez was followed by a wild pitch and a passed ball that brought home Northwest's final run.
Heritage began to mount its comeback in the sixth when Cole Wilcox drove home Horsley with a two-out double. The Generals (10-6, 4-3) worked to seemingly grab the game's momentum in the top of the seventh, but Hilton had enough in the tank to notch the final two of his eight strikeouts and close out the game.
"They are a good team and Todd always does a good job of coaching them," Heritage coach Eric Beagles said. "We just didn't do a good job of executing some things, and they put a four-spot on us in that one inning. But I was proud of the way our guys kept fighting with the comeback at the end."
Contact Greg Thompson at sports@timesfreepress.com.