“It feels great to be 2-0,” Mustangs coach Jeremy Thompson said. “On back-to-back nights, for our pitchers to come out and pitch that well against two good teams that can really hit, that’s huge.”

Middle Creek picked up its first run of the game before it even got a hit. After Jaguars starter Blair Betts walked the bases loaded in the second inning, Jordan Powell scored on a passed ball to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.

They pushed their lead to two in the third when Matt Laxton scored on a Powell sacrifice fly.

AthensÂ’ Ben Snotherly led off the fourth inning with a deep drive to left center field that looked sure to find the gap when it left the bat, but Middle Creek centerfielder J.T. Virant tracked it down and made a diving catch to rob Snotherly of extra bases. The Mustangs held on to their 2-0 lead through four innings.

“J.T. knows his job is to be our defensive stopper in centerfield,” Thompson said. “And if he doesn’t make that play they’ve got a guy on second or third with nobody out. That guy scores 75 percent of the time. He saved us a run right there.”

Middle Creek starting pitcher Al Reams kept the Jags off the scoreboard for five innings before being lifted for reliever Jimmy Boyd in the sixth. Boyd managed to get the first two outs in the inning, but could not quite escape unscathed.

A walk, a single and a wild pitch gave Athens runners on second and third. Michael King then hit a slow hopper to Mustangs second baseman Brandon Williams who charged in for the play but his hurried throw to first skipped all the way to the fence just right of the visiting dugout.

Snotherly and Dillon Rudio scored on the play to tie the game at two heading into the bottom half of the inning.

“It was tough right after I made the error,” Williams said. “But I tried to put it out of my mind as quickly as I could. I knew I couldn’t let the team down. I had to do something to make up for it.”

And make up for it he did.

After a Ben Brown single, Williams stepped to the plate and smacked a double to deep right field that scored Brown and gave Middle Creek a 3-2 lead.

“Bad things happen,” Thompson said. “But good players don’t carry it with them and Brandon didn’t.”

The Jags threatened in the seventh, but Mustangs reliever Nick Schavone got the final two outs of the game to strand Daniel Mason on second base and pick up the save.