Victory had eluded Lakeland High School’s baseball team this season, and as visiting Heritage High School charged into the lead in the top of the seventh inning on Tuesday, it looked as though victory would continue to elude the Cavaliers.

But not this time.

Lakeland came back from a two-run deficit to claim its first win of the season via a 7-6 defeat of the Hurricanes.

“I think it’s big for the kids,” Cavaliers coach David Devers said of the inaugural 2015 win. “We’ve got a pretty young team, so I think it was pretty big,” giving them some confidence in themselves.

“They played pretty well,” he said. “We did have three errors, two of which were at the top of the seventh.”

Entering the seventh inning, Lakeland held a 4-2 lead, but Heritage racked up four runs to go up 6-4.

However, Devers said grabbing the lead earlier in the game emboldened his players. After falling behind late, “they showed the determination and the hard work that they weren’t going to let this one slip through their fingers.”

“I just told them they needed to relax,” the coach said.

The last two batters of the Cavaliers’ lineup were first up; senior Joey Bradshaw got a hit, and junior Lucas Feldt got walked.

Then, freshman Dixon Mills bunted and loaded the bases. Sophomore Dedrick Boone hit the ball, which led to Bradshaw and Feldt scoring. Sophomore Jake Hardy hit a little infield tapper to bring home Mills for the game-winning run.

“We ended with guys on second and first and no outs,” Devers said.

Lakeland finished the game with 11 hits. Junior Brevin Parrish went 2-for-2 with two walks, Hardy went 2-for-3 with a run batted in, Bradshaw went 2-for-4 and Mills went 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Senior Blake Harris pitched the game’s final inning and earned the win on the mound. Hardy logged time on the mound before him.

Devers said the victory gives the Cavaliers a starting point to build on for the rest of the season.

Lakeland (1-11, 1-2) visits Phoebus High School this evening.