Pinecrest maintained its hold on first place in the Southeastern Conference baseball standings with a 9-2 home victory over Purnell Swett Friday night.

Joey Vecchione (7-1) went the distance, scattering seven hits, striking out five batters, walking one and hitting two. Bailey Rush supported him with a two-run homer and Matt Eddy hit a solo shot. The Patriots had 10 hits in all including three by Austin Embler and a pair by Evan Guy.

Playing their first home game since March 22, the Patriots improved to 7-1 in the league and 16-2 overall. They are scheduled to entertain Richmond Senior on Tuesday.

The home runs by Rush and Eddy accounted for three of the runs as the Pats took a slim 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. Vecchione helped himself by picking three Ram runners off first base in the first five innings.

The home team broke the game open by sending 11 men to the plate and scoring five times in the bottom of the sixth. Embler started things off with a one-out single. A walk to his brother Cam, and a single by Guy, brought home the first run. Pat Moore and Bryce Owen also singled home runs in the long inning that included four bases on balls.