The Bainbridge Bearcats baseball team jumped to a 5-0 lead against region opponent Westover in the second inning, and it was smooth sailing from there.

The Bearcats finished the game 10-4, finding their success by moving runners who were in scoring position and crushing a short Westover rally in the sixth inning.

Big hitters were Clark Wiggins, who went 3-for-3 at the plate, and Noah Bryant, who went 2-for-4 and drove in two RBIs.

Cayden McQuaig pitched for six innings, striking out three Patriots, allowing seven hits and four runs. Preston Strickland finished the game off with a strikeout in the seventh inning and let the defense handle the other two outs.

“I was proud of our guys tonight,” Coach Brian McCorkle said. “We got good starting pitching, quality defense and some timely hits.”

Bainbridge opened the game with three straight outs, and Westover’s defense followed suit in the bottom of the first, with the only hit coming from a line drive double by Keith Lyle.

Bainbridge lit up the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Russell Wheeler drove in A.J. Jackson on a fielder’s choice to second base to make the score 1-0. Wheeler scored another run when Clark Wiggins singled to second base. Carson Inlow banged out a single to drive in Caleb Boutwell and make the score 3-0.

Lyle hit another double to score Wiggins and Will Kelley hit a sacrifice fly to plate Inlow.

Bainbridge posted another run in the third with Noah Bryant scoring off a single from Boutwell.

Westover’s four-run rally came in the sixth with four straight hits off of McQuaig.

“They did a good job of hitting the ball and hitting it where we weren’t,” McCorkle said. “They banged out three or four hits in a row and they got some guys that can swing.”

Bainbridge bounced back on offense with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Wiggins scored off a single from Kelley, Kelley and Connor Strickland scored off a double from Bryant and Jackson came home on a Westover error.

McCorkle said it felt good his team was 3-0, but it felt even better to be 1-0 in Region 1-AAAA.

“We refer to those as money games, because that what gets us to where we want to be,” McCorkle said.

Bainbridge returns to action Wednesday at Pelham at 6 p.m., then returns home for a game against Early County Friday at 6:30 p.m.