West Lauderdale’s Braden Luke scores a run on a passed ball as Northeast Lauderdale’s Brock Butler dives over to attempt the tag Friday night.

For his season opener on the mound, West Lauderdale’s Kameron Partridge seemed to be in midseason form.

Partridge, a Jones College signee, had 12 strikeouts and also had an RBI single as West Lauderdale was able to hold off Northeast Lauderdale 5-1 in a key Region 5-4A matchup on Friday night to remain unbeaten in divisional play.

“I thought Kameron did a very well with it being first start of the season,” West Lauderdale coach Jason Smith said. “He does really well locating pitches and being able to pitch inside and uses his offspeed. The top of their lineup is really good, and Kameron made some good pitches with runners on base, and I’m real proud of him.”

In five innings of work, Partridge (1-0) gave up four hits, no runs and walked one batter. Partridge had been bothered by UCL ligament in his elbow for the past couple of months.

“I felt good with it being first start back for me and all my pitches were working on both sides of the plate, especially my fastball,” Partridge said. “I had confidence in all of my pitches no matter what the count was.” 

The Knights (11-3, 4-0 Region 5-4A) never trailed.

West Lauderdale scored first in the top of the first inning when Brett Mason came home on a wild pitch to take a 1-0 lead.

The Knights added onto their lead at 2-0 in the top of the third when Partridge connected on an RBI single to left.

In the fourth inning, West Lauderdale capitalized on a Northeast Lauderdale error and scored three runs on three hits, highlighted by a two-run single by Austin Davidson. Braden Luke also had an RBI single.

“We’ve been swinging the bats well lately, so I think we have a good approach at the plate with two strikes and putting the ball in play,” Smith said. “The fourth was a big inning for us, so I was pleased to see the guys get it together and give us a bigger lead. Being 4-0 in division is a big plus with big games coming up, but we’re still trying to reach our goal at the end of the season.”

Davidson, Luke and Brett Mason all had two hits each to lead West Lauderdale offensively.

“Just had to use the two-strike approach at the plate, and that’s what I did,” Davidson said. “This was a big district game tonight, and we executed, and Kameron did really well on the mound tonight.”

Northeast Lauderdale (7-4, 1-3) scored its lone in the bottom of the sixth inning on a RBI single to right by Sirr Ball.

Houston Wedgeworth (3-1) took the loss on the mound for the Trojans.

“After the showing we had Tuesday night, we played a pretty good game with the one error hurting us, and we had too many strikeouts,” Northeast Lauderdale coach Josh Snider said. “They had the big hits tonight, and we didn’t, and we had opportunities, especially late in the game. We still have a lot to play for in divisional play, we just have to bounce back.”