The King’s Fork High School baseball team was down 2-0 on Monday before scoring three unanswered runs to win against cross-city conference rival and host Lakeland High School.

“It was a pretty well-played game by both teams,” Bulldogs head coach Pat Stafford said. “Lakeland did a very good job defensively, I thought.”

But a Cavaliers error helped lead to King’s Fork’s go-ahead run.

Before that, Bulldogs junior Duke Santora came off the bench and hit a triple, batting in a runner to tie the game at 2-2.

Later in the game, senior Coty Ward drew a walk and stole second base. Senior Truman Boyd hit a hard line drive to deep left field, and Ward advanced to third. Then, with two outs, junior Kalev Henry hit a ground ball to shortstop, where an error allowed for the winning run.

Freshman Blake Sargent was the starting pitcher for King’s Fork, throwing for four and one-third innings, allowing only two hits and one walk, with three strikeouts.

Junior Cal Bailey pitched the last two and two-third innings, getting the win to improve to 2-0 on the mound this season.

Lakeland coach David Devers saw more positives than negatives in the game for his team but acknowledged why it lost.

“It was a combination of the two errors and then leaving nine people stranded (on base),” he said.

Though the two errors were significant, Devers was pleased that the Cavaliers kept it to that number.

“The kids are starting to play good defense,” he said.

He praised the efforts of senior Tyler Lilley, who pitched a complete game, throwing 11 strikeouts.

Lilley contributed on offense, as well, going 2-for-3, along with senior Austin Mills.

This evening, Lakeland (0-5, 0-2) hosts Hickory High School, while King’s Fork (2-2, 1-0) hosts Nansemond River High School.