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Murray • Though Cottonwood may not have accumulated its runs in picturesque fashion, a four-run fifth inning made life easier for Colts senior pitcher Wil Jensen.

"Once we get that lead, I feel a lot more comfortable," Jensen said.

No doubt.

Even scoreless, or behind 1-0 — which Cottonwood was for two innings — Jensen was doing fine. In the end, the host Colts grabbed a 4-1 victory over Bingham in the first of a three-game set this week between Region 3 rivals.

The Pepperdine-bound pitcher allowed only two hits over seven innings. Jensen struck out six batters.

"My off-speed was feeling better than usual. I know I lost a couple of them — also my fastball inside was feeling really good," Jensen said. "I wanted to start slower, because I know they come out aggressive. Start slow and then pick it up in the later innings."

Bingham (7-4, 3-1) got its only run in the third when Parker Littlewood started the frame with a walk. Jensen then hit Sean Keating with a pitch before Matt Dean bunted to third and was called safe at first when the throw over pulled the fielder's foot off the bag. With the bases loaded, Jensen induced a double play as one run scored.

The score stayed at 1-0 until Bingham starter Harley Yazzie got into trouble in the fifth.

Cottonwood (8-3, 4-0) got production from the bottom of the lineup when Nos. 8-9 hitters Hayden Cooper and Hunter Blunt, respectively, singled. Leadoff batter Ben Atkinson followed with another hit to load the bases before the Colts tied the game on a walk drawn by Jensen.

"When the top half of our order hasn't produced, the bottom has. It's really weird," Cottonwood coach Jason Crawford said. "We haven't really had a game where we've put it all together."

The Miners got their first out of the fifth on a wild pitch as Blunt was caught trying to swipe home. But the bases were reloaded when Colts' shortstop Oliver Dunn drew another walk.

When the Bingham relievers were summoned, both Hunter Heugly and Christopher Rowan were hit by pitches to make the score 3-1. The last run came on a blooper by Cam Daley that fell into center field.

"We got lucky. To beat a team like Bingham, you've got to have a little luck," Crawford said.

The teams will meet at Bingham on Wednesday, then back at Cottonwood on Friday.

"We've got lots of arms, lots of strike-throwers from this point on. We'll probably match up with Keating, so we'll have our hands full there," said the Cottonwood coach, who was glad to start the series with an ace's performance.

"Wil's an ultra competitor. He wanted to finish that game and I'm real proud of him," Crawford said. "We got rattled a little bit early in the game and he was able to minimize damage."