HOLLY SPRINGS — Holly Springs used back-to-back six-run innings on Wednesday to down Fuquay-Varina 12-2 in five innings. The two schools had never played one another before this season, and the Golden Hawks won both of this year's meetings to complete the sweep.

After going up 2-0 after the first, Holly Springs scored six more in a second inning that saw 12 batters come to the plate, and six more in the third.

In some ways, it was exactly the kind of lopsided win that Fuquay has been used to winning in recent years. It should be no surprise then, that Holly Springs coach Rod Whitesell used to be the J.V. coach at Fuquay just three years ago.

"We had eight hits and they came from eight different people," Whitesell said. "We played good defense, we pitched well, threw strikes. It was a total team effort, everybody came to play. [Fuquay] made a few mistakes and we were able to captialize on them as well."

Leading the way on a young and talented Golden Hawk team is sophomore Carlos Rodon, who stayed red-hot from the plate on Wednesday.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Rodon belted a grand slam over the wall in right-center to give the Golden Hawks an 8-0 lead.

"I was looking off-speed, and just sat back and drove it," Rodon said.

The right fielder also drew a bases-loaded walk in the third, giving him his fifth RBI on the day. One the week, Rodon went 4-for-4 with two home runs and 11 RBI

"I'm just having fun, hitting the ball, I really don't think about anything [when I'm at bat]," Rodon said.

As hot as the Hawks (4-0) have started, the Bengals (0-4) have been just as cold. Even a program as tradition-rich as Fuquay can't help but go through some growing pains after graduating almost all of last year's roster — including players now on scholarship at N.C. State and East Carolina respectively.

The Bengals fell again on Thursday, this time to Clayton by the 11-4 score.

"What we're looking to do is get better. We're an extremely young, inexperienced team," Fuquay coach Milton Senter said. "We're just trying to take the positive things from the game that we can."

Kyle Canfield gave up seven earned runs in one and one-third innings pitched and picked up the loss for Fuquay, while the Hawks' Ethan Nunn was the winning pitcher after allowing just one run and fanning four in four innings of work.

Bengals pitchers gave up seven hits on the night, walked six more and beaned three Holly Springs batters. Fuquay was charged with three errors and had an additional misplay on a pop fly to center that loaded the bases for Rodon's second-inning blast.

Senter said his team's collective inability to win the "game within a game" on longer at-bats was the difference.

"What tonight's game really came down to was every battle between our pitchers and their hitters, that were 6-8 pitch at-bats, they won the battle. Our pitchers have got to win those battles," Senter said.

"On the other side of it, our batters, when they were in those situations, for the most part, if we didn't hit the ball within the first four pitches, we lost those battles."

After starting five freshmen for the greater part of last season and finishing 13-10 overall, it appears the experience and hard work have been paying off for Holly Springs this season.

Whitesell said his young team's eagerness to improve each day has been key to the fast start, which now includes wins in the first two games of what's sure to be an intense rivalry between the two schools.

"You can't get them out of the cage, you can't get them off the field — they beg to get more," Whitesell said. "When you have kids like that it's good. They just get better everyday and you can see the fruits of their labor. Hopefully, we'll continue to get better."