The Trojans pounded out seven hits and played flawless in the field behind a complete-game effort from Preston Graham in taking a 4-1 win at Jody Davis Field.
The two teams' will resume their home-and-home series Wednesday in Buford. They will meet a third time on April 19 in Murrayville. The win pushed North Hall's win streak to nine, seven in the region, and snapped Buford's seven game winning streak.
For now North Hall (11-1, 7-0 Region 7-AAA) has a one-game lead on Buford for first place. The Wolves (9-2, 6-1) fall to second place, one game ahead of Dawson County and White County.
While neither coach would say Wednesday's game would decide the region champion, a North Hall win would put the Trojans in the drivers seat as the only unbeaten team and every other team with at least two losses.
"We have an opportunity to put ourselves in a good position. But really it's just the next game on the schedule," North Hall coach Trent Mongero said. "They are a quality team and can easily turn it around on us (Wednesday). We'll have to play another quality game."
Buford coach Tony Wolfe said the region title won't be won or lost on Wednesday, but admitted that it may take on some added importance after Tuesday's loss.
"There's still a lot of games left but obviously you don't want to go down two games in the standings against a team like North Hall," Wolfe said. "Hopefully we'll come out with a little more consistency (Wednesday)."
Graham scattered seven hits, fanned seven, and retired 10 of 11 batters until the Wolves scored their only run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly.
"Preston pitched lights out again," Mongero said. "We also played excellent defense and that was a big key."
Both teams came in with gaudy offensive numbers. The Wolves came in averaging 8.9 runs a game while the Trojans were averaging 11.7 runs. But Graham and Buford starter Josh Bryan were able to keep the offenses off-balance.
The Trojans were able to grab the early lead after Graham got out of a jam in the top of the first with two runners on and one out. Graham was able to strike out Jake Mayo to end the inning.
North Hall got a run on two hits in the bottom of the first against Bryan. Andrew Smith led off with a single, stole second, and then scored on a one-out double by Griffin Olson.
Graham was able to wiggle out of another jam in the second. Russell Klein singled and Jake Higginbotham reached on a bad-hop single to short and both advanced on a one-out grounder by Ryan Bramlett. Klein, however, was thrown out at home trying to score on a wild pitch to end the inning.
North Hall struck again in the bottom of the second loading the bases on back-to-back-to-back one-out singles from Drew Coker, McCoy Savage, and Graham. Bryan got Smith to pop up but Zach Mize drilled a double to center clearing the bases before getting gunned down at third to end the inning with a 4-0 lead.
Buford got another runner in scoring position in the third on a one-out double by Austin Upshaw. But Graham was able to get out of the inning unscathed again. The Wolves would strand five runners in scoring position in the first four innings.
"We had our chances but just couldn't break through," Wolfe said. "(Graham) is a quality pitcher but you have to find ways to score. We wasted a couple of good chances. And, the (three-run) double we probably should have caught but didn't. That was the difference."
Bryan finally settled down after the second inning allowing just one hit the rest of the way and finished with one strikeout and no walks in six innings.
Upshaw and Higginbotham each had two hits for Buford. Mayo, Klein, and Bramlett had one hit each and Patrick Burnette had the Wolves' only RBI.
The bottom of the order was again a catalyst for the Trojans. Coker, Savage, and Graham were 3-for-6 with three runs scored in the Nos. 7 to 9 spots. Olson had two hits and one RBI, Mize finished with one hit and the key three-run double, and Smith had one hit and scored a run for North Hall.
The Trojans celebrate scoring a run in a game earlier this season. North Hall took a one-game lead in Region 7-AAA Tuesday with a 4-1 win over Buford at Jody Davis Field. The two teams will play again Wednesday in Buford.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/3/259809