The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots closed out the regular season Thursday with a 9-5 win over Edgewood on senior day.

The win for the Patriots ended the regular season with a 27-4 record.

Although the Patriots won the game, head coach Allen Ponder said the Patriots left a lot to be desired.

“A win is a win, but we didn’t play very well,” Ponder said. “We played a great two innings. The other five we didn’t play really well. I give Edgewood all the credit; they kept playing the entire game.”

The lackluster play didn’t take away from what the day meant to the four Patriot seniors.

“It was a great day all the way around,” Ponder said. “When you’re able to get three guys to sign college baseball scholarships in the morning and then you are able to celebrate your seniors that have done so much for your program and your school, it’s a great day.”

The Patriots had four pitchers on the mound on Thursday. Holt Steed got the start and pitched the first two innings. Steed was followed by Nate Renfroe, Reed Jinright and Wood Jinright.

The Patriots finished with 11 hits led by Reed Jinright, who had two hits. Wood Jinright, Trevor Barron, Nate Renfroe, Cole McWhorter, Max Copeland, Davis Allen, Cason Murphree, Jades Sikes and Drew Nelson all had one hit apiece for the Patriots.

The Patriots did all their scoring in the first two innings against Edgewood.

The Patriots sent 10 batters to the plate and scored the game’s first five runs. The Patriots got RBI hits by Reed Jinright and Wood Jinright. Davis Allen came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Renfroe. The Patriots also scored runs on an error and a wild pitch.

The Patriots tacked on their final four runs of the game in the fourth. Renfroe singled in Allen to give the Patriots the 6-0 lead. With Reed and Renfroe on the bases, McWhorter singled to right field. The ball got by the right fielder and went all the way to the wall. Both runners scored on the play and McWhorter himself scored on the tail end of the play when the throw sailed into the dugout.

Edgewood scored their first two runs in the fifth when they had three hits and had a hit batter.

Edgewood added two more in the sixth before scoring their final run in the seventh.

The Patriots will begin the postseason in the second round after winning their area. They will take on the winner of Lee Scott and Bessemer on April 26 at home.

“We are going to focus on staying crisp,” Ponder said. “You want to win the area and have the first round bye, but it’s tough because you have such a long layoff. We are trying to schedule some games for next week with a couple teams that also won their area. For us right now it’s about staying in game shape.”

Across the parking lot, the Lady Patriots fell to Edgewood 17-7.

The lady Patriots will be back in action next Thursday when they host Springwood for a double-header.