Less than 24 hours after a dramatic walk-off single provided a win over West Montgomery in their final at-bat, the North Moore baseball team had to travel to Yadkin Valley Conference leader South Stanly Wednesday.

The hosts Rebel Bulls are leading the conference with an unbeaten record. Hammering out 12 hits, South Stanly built a 7-0 lead over the first five innings and then had to hold on as the Mustangs collected a pair of runs in each of the final two innings before falling 7-4.

Senior lefthander Heath Carriker was the starting pitcher for the Mustangs, going 41⁄3 innings before being relieved in the fifth by Dustin Morrison. Carriker finished with two strikeouts while Morrison fanned two batters.

South Stanly’s Russ Weike ran his record to 5-0 with the victory, giving up eight hits and striking out 10 batters in the seven innings he worked.

The Bulls plated a run in the bottom of the first inning and added two more in the third frame for a 3-0 lead. South Stanly scored a lone run in the fourth and started the fifth inning off with three straight singles. The Bulls scored three runs before Morrison came on in relief of Carriker and struck out the final two batters, leaving South Stanly on top 7-0.

The Mustangs finally got their offense going in the top of the sixth inning when Luke Auman got the first of his two hits. Then Rider Maness belted a two-run homer over the left-field fence, trimming the Bulls’ lead to 7-2. North Moore added two more runs in the seventh inning when Auman collected his second single and scored later on a ground out by Cody Vaughn. Colton Yedkois then hit a double and later scored on an infield single by Maness, giving him his third RBI of the game.

Maness led the Mustang attack with three hits,driving in three runs. Auman went 2 for 2 and Yedkois had a double and scored a run.

North Moore is now 2-5 in league action and 3-5 overall while South Stanly continues to lead the conference with a 7-0 conference mark and is 8-2 overall.

The Mustangs travel to South Davidson today for a 7 p.m. conference contest.