The Bowdon High School baseball team scored a 17-2, four-inning Region 6-A home victory against county rival Mt. Zion on Saturday afternoon, using a six-run first inning to make sure there would be no repeat of the Eagles’ 5-4 upset against the Red Devils on March 16.

“We hit it pretty hard all day,” Red Devil coach Stephen Mitchell said. “We had 12 or 13 guys contribute (Saturday), and that’s the way we like to do it.”

MZ’s Justin Nash reached on an error to lead off the game, and after a Levi Williams strikeout, Christian Heard roped an RBI single to left field to score Nash and put the Eagles up 1-0, their only lead of the contest.

It was the bottom of the first, though, that set the tone for Bowdon’s decisive victory. The Red Devils brought 10 batters to the plate, capitalizing on three walks, a hit batsman and an error to score six runs on only two hits.

Catcher Quinn Robinson’s two-run single to right field pushed Bowdon (13-6, 4-3 Region 6-A) up 2-1 before Nathan Urquhart scored when Robinson’s courtesy runner, Matt Wright, created enough of a distraction with a rundown for Urquhart to beat Mt. Zion second baseman Tristen Puckett’s throw home to make it 3-1.

Sam Runyan knocked in the next two runs when he reached on an error, followed by an RBI single from Drew Dixson to extend it to 6-1.

“We set it as a goal (Saturday) that we were going to come out here and finish it early to prove our point from our previous loss,” Red Devil center fielder Nathan Montgomery said. “And after the first inning, we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘It’s time to show everybody what we’re made of.’ And we just turned it on.”

MZ coach Mark Lyle was disappointed with how his team let the first inning become decisive.

“We can’t let one inning decide a ball game. Basically, that’s what we did (Saturday),” Lyle said. “That first inning pretty much decided our fate.”

Corey Loftin — who was 2-for-2 on the night — led off the top of the second for the Eagles (6-8, 2-4 Region 6-A), took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Kobie Webb single to right field to cut it to 6-2, but it would be the last time Mt. Zion got on the board.

The Red Devils got the bats going again in the bottom of the third, with Seth Key leading off with a walk and Sam Runyan reaching on a fielder’s choice in which Key was safe at second. Dixson then perfectly executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over before Montgomery lifted a two-run single to center.

Drew Roberts followed with an RBI double down the right-field-line — prompting Lyle to move starter Drew Norton to right field and bring Webb to the mound. Webb got Josh Jennings to ground out to shortstop, which scored Roberts, who had taken third on a wild pitch, before getting Urquhart to ground out to second to end the frame with Bowdon leading 10-2.

It was the bottom of the fourth that broke the game completely open and ultimately ended it three innings early.

The fourth-inning offensive assault began with one out, starting with a Jordon Loveless single to right and Key being hit by a pitch for the second time on the day. Then Brandon Jones, for whom Runyan had been the designated hitter, came up to the plate and smacked an RBI single to left to help his cause.

Dixson followed that up with a single to left before a Montgomery RBI single to right and a two-run double by Roberts pushed it to 14-2. After a Wright groundout to shortstop, Jordan Jones stepped in for his first at-bat and lifted a two-run single to center.

Following a Robinson walk, Rob Brown had a game-ending RBI single to center in his only at-bat to make the final count 17-2.

“We’ve hit it pretty well as of late,” Mitchell said. “Our pitching has gotten better, and we are starting to understand ourselves a little bit better.”

Brandon Jones surrendered four hits and a hit batsmen and struck out four in four innings to earn the victory on the hill.

Roberts said winning again in region was pivotal.

“It’s a big win,” Roberts said. “Any region game is big right now.”

And Mitchell feels good about his team’s direction heading into the stretch run of region play.

“We’re going to keep fighting and see where the chips fall,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to try to win the rest of them if we can and see how the chips fall.”