After opening the season by winning three out of four Southwest Conference games, the North Moore junior varsity baseball team stepped out conference action Wednesday in the Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League.

Coming off a 12-2 win over cross-county rival Union Pines the day before, the Mustangs traveled to Southern Lee for a non-conference contest.

North Moore fell behind early but rallied to tie the game at six in the fourth inning. But Southern Lee plated three runs in the fifth and the Mustangs came up short with one run each in the sixth and seventh innings before falling 9-8.

“We hit the baseball good enough to win, but overall our pitching just was not where it needed it to be,” said North Moore coach Randy Wallace. “We had a hard time finding the strike zone most of the night, until the end. Joseph Hyman had a huge sacrifice fly for us in the fourth inning to get us back into the game and started a rally for us. Luke (Elkins) came in and pitched good for us, but it was too little too late.

“Southern Lee made some great plays at the plate, so hats off to them for a close game.”

The Mustangs actually outhit the home team, 10 hits to six. Chase Matthews had a single and a bunt single while teammate Ethan Horne added a triple. Trey Wood and Bryson Lambert had one double each with Clay Richardson, Cameron Morrison, Naythan Batalla and Elkins having one single each for the Mustangs.

Richardson was the starting pitcher for the Mustangs, pitching two and one-third innings, allowing five runs (two unearned) on five hits and two walks.

Elijah Ross pitched one inning, giving up one run, one walk and striking out one batter. Wood came on to pitch an inning, allowing one run, striking out one and walking two batters. Morrison pitched one-third inning, striking out one batter while giving up two hits and two runs. Elkins came in to pitch the final one an two-thirds innings, giving up no runs, no hits, no walks while striking out two batters.

Neither team scored in the first inning, but North Moore scored first, pushing across a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Southern Lee took a 3-2 lead with three runs in the bottom half of the frame.

The Mustangs tied the game in the third inning with a run, but the home team came back in the bottom half of the third inning, scoring two runs and taking a 5-3 lead.

North Moore got back into the game in the fourth inning, thanks to Hyman’s sacrifice fly, scoring three runs. Southern Lee added its sixth run in the bottom of the fourth inning and then took a 9-6 lead with three runs in the crucial fifth inning. North Moore rallied for one run each in the sixth and seventh innings, but came up short.

The loss, coupled with a loss to Union Pines on Thursday, drops the Mustangs to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in conference action.

The Mustangs are back in action Monday when the junior varsity travels to East Montgomery for a 6 p.m. contest. The varsity Mustangs journey to West Stanly for a 6 p.m. scheduled contest.

Both the varsity and junior varsity play their first home game of the season Tuesday with juniors hosting East Montgomery and the varsity entertaining West Stanly.

The junior varsity contest is slated to start at 4 p.m., followed by the varsity match-up at 6 p.m.