PHILADELPHIA — With a 1-1 count and his team clinging to a one-run lead in the top of the seventh, Neshoba Central’s Clay Sanders fired his 16th pitch of the frame.

The baseball zipped past Jaress Goodin and dropped in front of Rockets’ catcher Mark Hunt. On cue, the Tigers’ player who occupied first base darted toward second.

As Hunt reared back to throw the Saltillo runner out, Goodin’s bat interfered with the play, which resulted in the third Saltillo out and secured a 6-5 win for the Rockets Friday night in Game 1 of their MHSAA Class 5A second-round series.

“They called a batter’s interference on the throw down — it would have been the third out,” Neshoba Central coach Justin Stovall said. “I think we still would have had a chance to throw him out anyway. It was going to be close, but hey, we’ll take it.”

Neshoba Central (14-6) travels to Saltillo Saturday for Game 2 and, if necessary, and Game 3. 

The Rockets were judicious with their hit selections, as they finished with just four. Mark Hunt was responsible for two, while Sanders and Bailey Cook provided the others.

Securing the big hit, Stovall said, has been a point of emphasis for Neshoba Central’s hitters this season.

“The six games that we’ve lost, we haven’t gotten big hits when we needed them,” Stovall said.

Friday, the Rockets heeded the call.

Neshoba Central’s first two batters in the bottom of the third drew walks, and Hunt bunted to reach first with the third at-bat to give the Rockets runners on all three bases. 

Cook needed just one pitch to clear the bags with a hard-hit double to left field that sent Phillips Hines, Anthony Medine and Grayson Fulton — who courtesy ran for Hunt — home. Cook advanced to third on the throw, and Neshoba Central extended its lead to 5-1.

“I was just up there trying to produce a run because I knew I had to come up big for the team and make something happen,” Cook said. “Luckily, it went my way.”

Cade Hall scored on a Saltillo error in the bottom of the first, and Hunt hit an RBI single that plated Sanders and pushed the Rockets ahead 2-0.

Reid Hall’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth scored Hines with the Rockets’ sixth run.

Neshoba Central pitcher Hayden Knight went  5 and 2/3 innings and was credited with the win. He struck out eight, walked six and allowed just two earned runs. Sanders went 1 and 1/3 innings. 

“He competed and battled, and he got a lot of big outs,” Stovall said of Knight. “Even though his breaking ball wasn’t on, and that’s his best pitch, he fought hard for six innings, and that’s all we can ask out of him.”

The Tigers nearly vanquished a five-run deficit in the top of the sixth.

Wesley Mize launched a solo home run to left field, and Drew Capobianco scored after a Neshoba Central balk. The Tigers tallied two more runs on a Neshoba Central fielding error in the frame to whittle their deficit to one run.

Neshoba Central takes its 1-0 series lead on the road Saturday, where the Rockets and Tigers are slated for a 2 p.m. Game 2 start in the best-of-three series.

“Winning Game 1 at home is always the most important thing for us,” Cook said. “They’re going to come after us tomorrow, but we just have to come out and hit them in the mouth.”