BY JOHN STREIT

Special to 757teamz.com

CHESAPEAKE

Move over, Western Branch. You’ve got company atop the Southeastern District.

Riding a one-run, five-inning effort from ace Gary Ward and a four-run third inning led by a home run from Brett Harris, the No. 3 Hawks defeated fifth-ranked Great Bridge 7-4 in a Southeastern District clash at Great Bridge High School on Thursday night.

The win by Hickory (14-3, 12-3) did little to resolve the logjam at the top of the district standings, as the Hawks are now deadlocked with Western Branch, which also owns a 12-3 district mark.

It did, however, push the Wildcats (14-4, 12-4) into third place. Fourth-place Nansemond River (10-4 also has four Southeastern losses.

“We still know what’s ahead,” Ward said of the stretch run. “We still got to go out there and take it one game at a time.”

With his breaking pitches not featuring their usual bite, Ward had to rely on his fastball and change-up to navigate through five hits and three walks in his five innings of work

The senior left-hander struck out 10, including back-to-back strikeouts in the third and fourth innings to leave Great Bridge runners stranded in scoring position.

“Coming out, I didn’t have my best stuff and at some points they caught on, so I had to make some key pitches from the off-speed,” Ward said. “But on the flip side, I had a team that was willing to put seven runs on the board, and from there I felt comfortable.”

After stranding four Hickory baserunners in the first two innings, Great Bridge starter Phil McCarthy, who dropped a 1-0 decision to Ward earlier in the season, came unglued in the third when Cody Reardon led off with a single and Harris followed with his long ball to right center.

Tomer Fulcher added an RBI single and Mason Dunlow scored from third on a wild pitch to cap the inning’s damage.

McCarthy lasted just 2 2/3 innings, in which he gave up seven hits, two walks and hit a batter.

Great Bridge made it interesting in the seventh when Hunter Parrish cracked a three-run shot off Harris, who is also Hickory’s closer, to make it 7-4. Harris, who went 3-for-5 at the plate, rebounded with two strikeouts to quell the rally.

Smith went 4-for-4 with a triple and an RBI in the losing effort.