After seeing their last two leads slip away from them, Highland baseball held on Monday night to beat Lone Tree 7-5.

The regular season sweep was not a guarantee, although the Huskies had about as good of a start as any could hope for. Bryce Hazelett retired the first nine batters faced, including five strikeouts in a row. Meanwhile, Highland’s offense provided a steady attack with two runs in each of the first three innings. Back-to-back doubles from Logan McFarland and William Dunbar got things started. Dunbar would plate McFarland in the second as well, along with a knock from Hunter Seibel. Hazelett helped his own cause with an RBI-double in the third frame and he would later score on one of Caleb Wheeler’s two hits.

Trailing 6-0, Lone Tree’s lineup would not be denied the second time through. A pair of singles led off the fourth from Emmet Burke and Ethan Bockelman. Brody Magruder sent them both home on a double to put the Lions on the board. Lone Tree pitcher Owen Eden settled in, allowing the Lions to make it a 6-3 game in the fifth. The Huskies answered in the bottom half as Ryker Miller scored following a leadoff double of his own. Hazelett knocked him in to make it 7-3 and joined Dunbar with 2 RBIs.

Still, the Lions would not go away. Maddox Jondle led off the sixth with a triple, sparking another two-run frame for Lone Tree. Facing another slim lead, Highland looked to freshman Landon Roling who delivered the save. The win went to Hazelett, who struck out a total of nine and gave up seven hits in six innings.

The Huskies wrap up the regular season tonight with Wilton, before facing the Lions in their postseason opener Saturday. Lone Tree sees BGM tonight, with their finale tomorrow against Wapello.