It was a hitter's night Friday in Chapel Hill as host Forrest took on Huntland in the opening round of the District 9-A Tournament, eventually outslugging the Hornets 14-6.

It was the first post-season win for first-year Forrest head coach Chris Parker, who was not happy after the game, saying, "I'm mad, I'm angry. There were a lot of things, a lack of focus, a lack of intensity, defensive miscues, not throwing strikes, the list goes on and on and we are about to go talk about it."

The two teams combined for 28 hits in the contest with Huntland getting 13 singles, while Forrest had 15 hits, including an early two-run single, and a late two-run homerun by Landon Jones (3-4, 4RBIs, 2RS) for his second dinger in two games.

Horvath wins

Zach Horvath survived to pick up the win on the mound, going 4 2/3 innings before Kennedy Mathis came in from the bullpen to put out the fire with Forrest leading by three and two Hornets on base with two outs in the fifth.

"It was a sloppy game, they got on us a little bit and we did come back," said Parker. "We did to a good job offensively, I will say that to them, but tournament baseball to me goes by pitching and defense and we didn't play good defense and we did not pitch the ball well tonight."

Horvath went 3-5 at the plate, scored a run and knocked in the eventual game winner, all the way back in the second inning.

Austin Harber was the third Forrest batter to get three hits as the Rocket backstop went 3-4 with a pair of stolen bases, two runs scored, and a backbreaking two-run triple in the fifth inning.

Out of a jam

Horvath worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first inning before a Jones single knocked in Alex Brewer (1-2, RBI, HBP, BB) and Harber in the bottom of the inning.

The Hornets stung back, scoring three times in the top of the third on a Forrest error, an RBI base knock by Evans Ray, and a sacrifice fly ribbie from starting pitcher Kobe Foster.

Boone Sweeney (1-3, RS, BB) led off the home half of the second with a base hit and Tanner Garvin (2-3, 2RS, RBI, BB) followed with a double down the left field line, putting Rocket runners on second and third before Horvath knocked them both in on a single, combined with a Huntland error.

Big lead

Garvin would eventually put the Rockets up 8-3 with a two-run double in the third and Ryan Yelensky (1-1, RS, RBI) followed with an RBI base hit to make it 9-3.

Huntland began to chip away at Forrest's lead, scoring two in the fourth and one more in the fifth when Mathis entered the contest with runners on first and third with two outs.

Ray hit a hard grounder towards the first base and second base hole that looked like it would go through for a base hit, but Garvin came up with a great backhand grab and flipped to Mathis, hustling to the cover first for the final out of the inning.

The Rockets put the game away in the bottom of the inning on Harber's three-bagger and Jones' heat-seeker to left, making it 13-6.

Final score

A pitch hit Brewer with the bases loaded in the sixth to account for Forrest's last run and Ryan Byrd finished the Rockets' mound work with a hitless seventh inning.

Today's washout pushes the tournament to Monday when the host Rockets go for win number 20 on the season in a winner's bracket game versus No. 6 Cascade, who upset third-seeded Community 7-5 in the Friday nightcap.

"A win is win I guess, and you have got to win that first game, especially in a four-team bracket," said Parker.