An opportunistic King’s Fork High School baseball team turned what seemed like another decisive Nansemond River High School win into a tense thriller on Wednesday. The host Bulldogs tied up the game in the fifth inning before ultimately falling 6-5.

Going into the game, Warriors head coach Mark Stuffel said he had no idea what to expect from King’s Fork this season but had a better idea after the close call.

“I think they’re a well-coached team,” he said. “I think (Pat Stafford’s) doing a good job with them. They played solid defense.”

Stuffel said his own team played well enough to win, but “we’re still not playing the level of baseball that I feel like we can play.”

Despite the loss, Bulldogs head coach Pat Stafford said his players were feeling positive.

“They definitely walked away with a sense of confidence, knowing that we had opportunities to win that ballgame,” he said.

Nansemond River enjoyed a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the fifth when the face of the game changed.

“We made about three bonehead mistakes that we shouldn’t have made, and they capitalized on them and tied the game up,” Stuffel said.

Stafford said junior Kalev Henry got a leadoff walk and later scored off a pop fly by junior Cal Bailey. Freshman Blake Sargent got a hit and a run batted in, and an error helped make it 5-4. Lastly, freshman Ricky McCleod smacked a deep RBI double, scoring Sargent.

“That was a big clutch hit in the fifth to tie the game up,” Stafford said in praise of McCleod.

Junior Duke Santora continued his strong play at the plate this season, contributing to the effort in the fifth and leading his team with two hits on the night. The Bulldogs had six hits total.

Stuffel said part of the reason for Nansemond River’s struggles in the fifth was due to youth and inexperience.

“We had a sophomore on the mound,” he said, referring to Corey Fago. “I thought he pitched the ball great. He looked young on a couple plays.”

But the Warriors coach also cited poor defensive play elsewhere as contributing to the problem.

Fago got an out, and later in the inning, Stuffel installed junior Robert Fitzwater, who has been the team’s closer. He got the next two outs on strikeouts.

“Robert did a great job coming in and stopping the bleeding,” Stuffel said.

Fitzwater pitched the final two and two-thirds innings, giving up one hit and striking out six of the last seven batters he faced.

The performance led to his first win of the season, making him 1-0.

Sophomore Matt Holt started on the mound for Nansemond River and pitched four innings, giving up three hits, one run and throwing eight strikeouts.

Senior Trevor Riggs led the Warriors offensively, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two scored runs.

Stafford said mental mistakes were an issue for his team, and he also said the Bulldogs will need to have higher-quality at-bats.

“We ended up leaving six runners on base,” he said, four of which were in scoring position.

On the defensive side, Stafford praised senior Tim Hairsine for his continued impressive play on the mound this season. Hairsine pitched six and one-third innings on Wednesday, helping hold Nansemond River to six hits, their lowest tally this season.

This afternoon, Nansemond River (5-0, 2-0) hosts Hickory High School and King’s Fork (2-3, 1-1) hosts Oscar Smith High School.