HANNIBAL, Mo. - Hannibal delivered the winning run on a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Pirates rallied past the Fulton Hornets 5-4 in a North Central Missouri Conference matchup Friday night.
Fulton suffered losses on back-to-back nights after winning four straight. The Hornets are now 5-3 on the season and 2-3 in the NCMC.
"It's really difficult, just because I know how talented we are," Fulton head coach John Brinkman said. "But we didn't play up to that; this is a tough one to take."
The Hornets - who had taken a 4-3 lead with two runs in the sixth - committed two critical errors in the seventh to help set up Hannibal's comeback.
"There are two types of errors," Brinkmann said. "There are physical ones, which I can accept because they usually happen when you're trying to be aggressive.
"Then there are mental errors and we've got to limit those; we didn't do a very good job with that."
Fulton opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Junior center fielder Alec Fleetwood doubled to center with one out and junior second baseman Luke Gray coaxed a walk with two out.
Junior designated hitter Jared Peery followed by lining a single to right to score Fleetwood and Gray raced to third on the play. Senior first baseman Zach Franklin then reached on an error by the Pirates' third baseman, allowing Gray to sprint home.
Hannibal answered with three runs in its half of the third to take a 3-2 lead and the score remained that way until the Hornets put up their two runs in the sixth. Senior third baseman Jacob Hammerstone was safe on a two-out error by the Pirates' shortstop and advanced to second on the play.
Junior left fielder Cameron Vititoe then slipped a single into right, bringing home Hammerstone to tie the game. Vititoe went to second on the play and was replaced by sophomore courtesy runner Solomon Huff, who came around to score the go-ahead run when junior center fielder Josh Quick reached on another error by Hannibal's shortstop.
Gray was 2-for-3 and Peery went 2-for-4 as Fulton ended up with seven hits, but stranded seven on base.
"We did a great job until we got runners on," Brinkmann said. "We didn't really fight to do the little things."
Junior starter Taylor Nelson threw a complete game in being tagged with the loss for the Hornets. Nelson surrendered five runs - three earned - on just six hits, struck out five and issued only one walk.
"Taylor pitched a great game," Brinkmann said. "He did exactly what we wanted him to do with the way the wind was blowing - throw to contact and let his defense play behind him.
"He threw strikes and had another great outing; it was a tough one (to lose)."
Fulton returns home for a non-conference contest against Blair Oaks at 5 p.m. Monday.
"We've got to dig down deep and decide what kind of team we're going to be," Brinkmann said. "Are we going to be one that rolls over or one that fights back and builds from this?
"I think we'll be that (latter) one."