MENDENHALL — It’s that time of the year where teams start separating themselves.

That wasn’t the case, though, on Friday afternoon.

Behind the stellar pitching of Christian Allen and a big first inning Mendenhall got past Northeast Lauderdale 2-0 in a crucial Region 5-4A matchup.

Allen, the junior right hander for Mendenhall, tossed a complete game one-hitter, walked three and struck out nine batters.

“He did unbelievable job,” Mendenhall coach Ryan Neely said. “He hadn’t pitched well at the beginning of the year, but lately over the last three games he’s pitched really well and went all seven innings, which is always good.”

The one hit for Northeast Lauderdale came in the top of the seventh with two outs on a single to left by catcher Braxton Lee.

The Trojans only managed to put four runners on base.

“Christian did a great job of keeping them off balanced tonight mixing up his fast ball and curve,” Neely said. “We didn’t make an error behind him on defense, and that helped a lot.”

Mendenhall (7-8, 3-3 Region 5-4A) scored all of its runs in the bottom of the first inning.

The first run for the Tigers came on a balk, while the other came on a RBI infield single by Bobo Walker.

Mendenhall did strand seven runners on base, including the bases loaded in the fourth inning, and had a runner in scoring position in every inning.

“The other night we left 12 men on base and lost the game 7-4,” Neely said. “We’re getting on base, but can’t get the big hit with two outs, and that is something we need to start doing.”

Brock Butler (2-3) took the loss on the mound for Northeast Lauderdale (7-8, 3-3). 

With the Tigers and Trojans both 3-3 in division play with two weeks left in the regular season, there is still a lot of baseball left to be played.

Northeast Lauderdale’s last two divisional series are against Northeast Jones and Quitman, while Mendenhall has Newton County and Northeast Jones remaining.

As of right now, Mendenhall, Northeast Lauderdale and Newton County are fighting for the last two playoff spots.

“We’ve got to just regroup. We are in one of the toughest divisions in the state; its nowhere near over,” Trojans coach Josh Snider said. “Tonight, we were very passive at the plate. Brock pitched well enough for us to win the game, but hats off to their guy, he competed his butt off and threw strikes.