Triton hosted Harnett Central earlier than originally scheduled in varsity baseball to accommodate participation in the upcoming Easter Tournament at South Johnston.

The Hawks ended the Tri-County Six 3-A Conference matchup on Thursday night earlier than scheduled as well as Bert Strickland slid home safely in the bottom of the fifth inning for a 10-0 mercy rule win over the Trojans.

Strickland scored on a wild pitch as Triton took advantage of Central mistakes, shutout pitching from Ethan Hedgepeth and timely hitting.

The Hawks improved to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in league play going into a makeup conference contest at Lee on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Strickland singled to score Parker Crews, who had doubled, and Christian Tyndall, who walked, before a sacrifice bunt by Greg Godwin, for a 2-0 Triton lead in the second.

A walk to Crews and a single by Tyndall started a 5-run fourth for Triton. A sacrifice bunt by Godwin moved the runners to second and third. Austin Riewestahl was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A walk to Strickland forced Crews home.

Tyndall scored on a wild pitch. Colton Neighbors drove in two runs with a single. Grayson Bradham doubled to bring in Neighbors for a 7-0 Hawks advantage.

Tyndall and Godwin had one-out singles in the fifth. A wild pitch put two runners in scoring position before Riewestahl singled for a 9-0 Triton lead.

Strickland reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored the game-ending run on a wild pitch.

Hedgepeth pitched a 2-hitter. Jackson Yarbrough singled for Central in the second and stole second. Austin Swan had a hit in the third, moved to second on a balk call and was stranded at third by one of Hedgepeth’s seven strikeouts.

The Trojans slipped to 3-9 on the season and 2-3 in the Tri-County going into a game at Western Harnett on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“They had some guys that rose to the occasion,” said Central coach Lance Honeycutt, a Triton alumnus who pitched at East Carolina. “That’s what you do as a baseball unit. The pitcher threw strikes and the players played behind him. They hit the ball when it mattered. They made our mistakes into runs.

“Baseball is a brutal sport to be a part of when you’re not doing the little things right and they expose you quickly. What we have to do as a team is not sweat the small stuff and focus on things we can control.”

Triton coach Joey Miriello was pleased with several facets of the Hawks’ performance.

“We executed really well tonight,” Miriello said. “Two bunts by Greg Godwin moved runners into scoring position. Things like that can go overlooked sometimes. He doesn’t move those runners into scoring position, we don’t get those runs there.

“We had a great offensive practice (Wednesday). That kind of carried over.

“Like I always say, it always starts on the mound. Ethan once again came up with a great performance on the mound. Defensively, we made the plays behind him.

“We came up with big hits tonight. We moved runners into scoring position and then we knocked them in. I thought Bert Strickland’s at-bat with two out (in the second) when he drove in those two runs was big for us. If we don’t score those two runs there, I think that could have been a completely different ball game.”