An early lead helped Pike Liberal Arts baseball secure the victory over Hooper, 9-1, Thursday night.

The game was decided quickly as the Patriots exerted its will early with five runs in the first three innings.

An RBI single by Keagan Simmons and a two-run single by Rush Hixon during the second inning fueled the Patriots’ offense early.

Hayes Lee also had a hot bat for PLAS. Lee went 3-4 and scored two runs. He singled in the second, third, and sixth innings.

Simmons had an impressive outing on the mound against Hooper’s lineup. Hooper managed just two hits off of Simmons, who allowed no earned runs, walked one and struck out seven during his five innings of work.

The Patriots added two more runs in the top of the third. Drew Starling doubled, scoring Parker Ely to start the inning.

PLAS tacked on another four runs in the sixth. A hit into a fielder’s choice scored Lee for the inning’s first run. That was followed up by Tyler Hussey’s single, scoring Hixon and Murphy Renfroe.