Host Indian River High School took advantage of opportunities from Nansemond River High School’s baseball team on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the Warriors managed to pull off an 8-4 win with an offensive flourish in the 10th inning.

“We made a lot of mistakes that allowed Indian River to stay in the game,” NR head coach Mark Stuffel said, with the major issue being a recurring one this year — poor base running. “It’s just something our guys need to work on.”

The coach said at least five different innings that could have been big offensively for the Warriors were prematurely over because of bad base-running. Three players were picked off at first and two ran up on a base runner in front of them, allowing the other team to get outs.

“I think our offense out-shined our bad base running,” Stuffel said.

In the 10th inning, senior Shane McCaw got a base hit, followed by senior Hunter Kiessling. Senior Shane Woods got a hit to score McCaw, and then junior Kieton Rivers recorded his third double of the game to score Kiessling and Woods. Senior Trevor Riggs got the last hit that scored Rivers to make it 8-4.

Identifying his standout players, Stuffel said, “Without a doubt, Kieton Rivers. He usually got us going.”

Rivers went 4-for-5 with a single, three doubles and two runs batted in. Kiessling registered two big hits and two RBIs.

Nansemond River played great defense for the most part, except for a one-inning lapse, Stuffel said. The Warriors had built a 3-0 lead, only to see it disappear completely in the sixth inning.

Junior Robert Fitzwater threw the first seven innings and then senior Mike Parmentier pitched the final three to get the win, improving to 5-1 on the season.

Nansemond River (9-2, 2-0) visits Dinwiddie High School on Saturday and begins steady conference play on Tuesday at Denbigh High School.