Red Level went ahead 2-0 in the first inning and held on late in the seventh inning to beat Pleasant Home 4-3 in regular season action Thursday night at PHS.

The Tigers screamed to their third win of the season through playing good defense and keeping PHS runners on base throughout the game.

RLS led 3-0 in the third inning and scored its fourth run in the top of the fifth to build a 4-0 lead.

“We’re looking for consistency,” RLS coach Tony Ingram said. “We don’t have it, yet.

“We’re not producing runs. We’re getting some big hits, but scoring nobody ahead of them (on base).”

Pleasant Home allowed one RLS batter to get two hits. Troy Nolen went 2-for-4 with two singles for the Tigers.

The Eagles (5-5) got on the board in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Jeffrey Slaughter to score Hunter Weaver with two outs.

As well as RLS, Pleasant Home had one hitter with two hits in John Newby, who went 2-for-4.

“We left way too many people on base,” PHS coach Cody McCain said. “It’s those little things that you try to work on and hope to get those problems solved.

“In mid-season now, you would think that we’re going to be out of this kind of slump that teams get in usually when they swing the bat early on,” he said. “For whatever reason, we were swinging the bat better at the beginning of the season than we are now.”

Red Level got to its 2-0 lead in the first inning when T. Nolen scored on a sac grounder by Jordan Walker.

Raheem Bullock added the second run on a sac fly by Matt Nolen.

In the top of the third inning, RLS went up 3-0 on M. Nolen’s solo home run that hit the scoreboard in right field.

Walker, who was going to try and score on a squeeze play, stole home in the fifth inning to give the Tigers a 4-0 advantage.

The Eagles had a runner on third base and tried to cut into the Tigers’ lead by two, but RLS catcher Troy Grissett saw an opening and threw the runner out at third.

Pleasant Home’s three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning came on a Newby sac-grounder that scored Kaleb Powell, who reached on an error and quickly stole second base.

Weaver then reached on a walk and stole second and third with Hunter Greathouse at bat.

With Slaughter at the plate, Weaver stole home and Greathouse got caught at second on a throw from closer T. Nolen.

“You’ve got to put runs on the board,” McCain said. “You can’t wait until the seventh inning to decide you’re going to start scoring.”

Pleasant Home will visit Geneva County tomorrow for a small three-team tournament. The Eagles will face GCHS at 1 p.m., and then end with Houston Academy.

Red Level will face Elba on the road on Monday in area action for a single game. On Tuesday, the Tigers will host Elba for a doubleheader, if needed.