Snider's rule was proven in the seventh inning of East Chapel Hill's 4-3 win over Athens Drive Tuesday in a 4-A second-round state tournament game.

The first oddity came in the batter's box. In the same decisive seventh inning, one hitter for each team was affected by a batter's box rule.

With the scored tied 2-2 in the top of the seventh, Athens Drive appeared to be aided by an umpire's call when Alex Moore was called out for being out of the batter's box on a sacrifice bunt. But another batter's box call benefitted East Chapel Hill when Rickie Clark was awarded first base on catcher's interference.

That set the stage for Parker Tew's routine ground ball, which resulted in a fielding error and a throwing error to let in the two deciding runs.

"That's baseball," East Chapel Hill coach Phil Woodell said. "We thought they scored on a foul ball, so baseball has a way of evening things out."

Despite the sudden turn of events, Athens Drive mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Reynolds was safe on an infield single but erased on a fielder's choice.

Then came the next unusual baseball feat.

With two outs, leadoff batter Blake Seaton doubled but got caught in a rundown between second and third to end the game.

Andrew Mitchell scored on the play, giving Athens (15-7) its third run just before Reynolds was tagged out.

"It's unfortunate," said Athens Drive coach Joey Bell, shaking his head. "It was unfortunate the way it ended."

Except for the second inning, when East Chapel Hill scored twice and then Athens Drive tied the game, the Wildcats' Max Hoffman and the Jaguars' Ben Snotherly locked into a pitcher's duel.

Hoffman sat down Athens Drive in order in three of the first four innings.

Snotherly, whose six strikeouts came in the first three innings, didn't allow an earned run. In the second, Henry Branson singled and went to third on a double by Taylor West, but Branson scored on a wild pitch and West moved into scoring position on the wild pitch before a fielder's choice.

Athens Drive's second-inning runs came with two outs. Eric Berger singled and scored when Reynolds doubled. Reynolds then scored on Matt Proctor's single.

It was Proctor's hit that sliced over first base, prompting Woodell to refer to it as an example of the baseball gods "evening things out."