It was one of those games that could have gone either way.
But when you get to the winners' bracket final in a district baseball tournament, you come to expect games like this.
Hixson's Parker Tyo and Central's Bret Hardy hooked up in one of those classic pitcher's duals and both pitched well enough to win.
But Hardy gets that honor after his Purple Pounder teammates scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, Andrew McDaniel racing home from third base following a wild pitch from Hixson reliever Tanner Moylan for the 3-2 Central win.
Tyo, who kept Central hitters off balance all game long with his slow breaking pitches, only allowed four hits, but he walked two and hit four more. Despite those numbers, he was pulled with one out in the seventh after two Central hitters reached.
McDaniel had singled with one out and went to second on a Hixson error. That's when Hixson coach Colton Green put in ace Moylan, who had pitched a complete-game win on Saturday, but a walk to Scout Morgan loaded the bases before the game ended on a wild pitch to Andrew Bingham that allowed McDaniel to score.
Hixson scored single runs in the first and third innings, but Central knotted the score with two runs in the fourth. Hardy got better as the game progressed as he retired nine Wildcats in a row following their second run and 13 of the final 14 he faced.
The only Hixson base runner in the final four innings was Cabe Davis, who reached when a pop to third was dropped. But on a night when the winner clinched a region berth, Hardy was more than up for the challenge.
"There are times when Bret tries to do too much, but he settled down, zoned in and did a great job. Our mental mistakes early hurt us, but at this point in the season, we'll take a win any way we can get it," said Central coach Glen Carter after his team had improved to 16-13.
"I told our guys in that last inning that we wanted to get on top of the ball and hit it on the ground. Joseph Clark hit what could have been a double-play ball at second, but they bobbled it and we got on base. Then on that last pitch, McDaniel got a bad jump, but he was well under the tag at home to end the game," Carter added.
Hixson coach Colton Green tried to console his players after such a tough loss, but it was difficult.
"This tournament is not over yet as we still have a lot of baseball to play. We can't afford to hang our heads just because we lost a tough game like this," he began.
"Anything can happen when you're in a close game like this. We got a clutch hit early and added another run in the third, but couldn't push any more runs across. Then we brought in our number-one guy at the end and it didn't work out very well," Green nodded.
Hixson's Matt Oxford led off the game and went to first when he got hit by a pitch. A couple of groundouts moved him around to third before he scored on a single by Tyler Weaver.
Then in the third, Oxford reached on an infield single before Brandon Carver walked. Oxford was out on a force at third and Weaver whiffed for the second out, but Carver scored the second run on an infield boot and a bad throw to make it 2-0.
Central knotted the score with two runs in the fourth.
Tyler Lowe walked to lead off the inning before Gabe Fomby doubled to the gap in left-center. Will Waters struck out before Hardy blooped a single into shallow right to drive in Jake Hood, who had been inserted as a courtesy runner for Lowe.
Fomby also scored on the play as the relay throw from right was bad.
That's the way it stayed until the fireworks in the seventh.
Hardy had two hits for Central while Fomby and McDaniel had one each.
Logan Rigsby, Oxford and Weaver all had one hit each for Hixson, all singles.
While Central has Tuesday off, Hixson will face Red Bank in the loser's bracket final. The Lions stayed alive with a 4-2 win over Tyner in Monday's first game.
Tuesday's winner will face Central on Wednesday at 5. Should the Purple Pounders lose that game, the second game would follow immediately.
HIXSON 101 000 0 -- 2 3 2
CENTRAL 000 200 1 -- 3 4 3
Tyo, Moylan (7) and Rollins; Hardy and Lowe.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)