RED SPRINGS — After many of the Red Springs baseball team’s losses this season, coach Matt Strickland has said the Red Devils are just one hit away.

Against St. Pauls Wednesday, Red Springs got that one hit over and over.

The Red Devils struck for 13 hits on their way to a 13-3, six-inning win over the Bulldogs.

“Right now we’re gelling,” Red Springs coach Matt Strickland said. “We’ve been playing really good baseball; win or loss, the past two or three weeks, we’ve been playing really well. A night like tonight, when the offense really comes through, I expect nothing less. I knew if we showed up like we’ve been playing that we were going to be just fine.”

Red Springs (7-7, 2-1 Southeastern Athletic Conference) has won two straight games and five of its last eight; the three losses in that span each came by one run.

Tim Hammonds was integral both at the plate and on the mound in Wednesday’s win, with two hits and two RBIs offensively and 4 2/3 key innings pitched.

“Tim Hammonds hasn’t pitched a lot this year, he’s been more of a bullpen guy, and I tell you what, he stepped up really big tonight and he threw the ball really well,” Matt Strickland said. “And he’s been getting it done offensively, but it’s been a team effort. Everybody’s been swinging the bat well recently.”

Tim Hammonds tied the game at 2-2 with a first-inning RBI single, and also gave Red Springs the lead with a third-inning RBI single; both plated Xzavier Sinclair.

“I know the the kind of ball team we’re starting and the kind of ball team that’s coming to Red Springs and how we’ve been playing, nobody wants to see us,” the senior said. “We’re coming and we’re ready for everybody. We’re not the same Red Springs we’ve been; we’ve been trying to tell everybody that.”

On the mound, Tim Hammonds relieved Red Devils starter T.J. Ellerbe with one out in the second inning, pitching the rest of the game. He allowed one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

“I ain’t been on the mound; coach has been saving me, but my time was right,” Tim Hammonds said. “Coach called me in and I came here, did my job. I really relied on my defense; I threw the ball well, threw strikes, the off-speed was working for me. I kept throwing it, kept it going and didn’t take off the throttle.”

Eight Red Devils players recorded at least one hit and five had two: Ellerbe, Keithan Clark, Sinclair, Jaydon Hammonds and Tim Hammonds. Clark, Sinclair, Tim Hammonds and Terry Locklear had two RBIs each.

Cameron McNeill, Jaylen Jacobs, Parker Baker and Tyler Lavoie had one hit each for St. Pauls (5-9, 1-2 Southeastern).

“We’re young. We still have not played our best baseball yet,” St. Pauls coach Bladen Strickland said. “We came close during the Slugfest a few times, but we didn’t finish, so there is growth; I’ve just got to stay behind my guys, and we’re going to figure it out, and figure it out quick.”

St. Pauls took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Jaylen Jacobs’ two-run triple, bringing home Cailen McNeill, who reached on an error, and Cameron McNeill. Red Springs answered in the bottom half, with a Sinclair RBI single to score Ellerbe and Tim Hammonds’ first RBI hit, to tie the game.

After Tim Hammonds’ third-inning RBI hit, Jaydon Hammonds scored on a wild pitch and Nazir Blackmon, Tim Hammonds’ courtesy runner, scored on a Terry Locklear RBI single for a 5-2 lead.

Keithan Clark’s RBI single in the fourth extended the Red Springs lead to 6-2; a Cameron McNeill RBI single for St. Pauls cut into the lead and made it a 6-3 game in the fifth. Jaydon Hammonds reached in the bottom half when a pop-up fell in and came around to score on a wild pitch.

The Red Devils blew it open in the sixth, scoring six runs with just one out when the game was ended via run rule. Clark, Jaydon Hammonds and Isaiah Locklear had RBI hits and Terry Locklear had an RBI groundout; additional runs came home on a wild pitch and an error.

“Just starting ahead in counts in our pitching staff; we’ve got to get ahead,” Bladen Strickland said. “I believe the last two games, last night and tonight, we have gotten ahead 25% of the time, and you can’t do that. You can take a team that’s below-average hitters, but they can hit a 3-1, 2-0 fastball if they know what’s coming. So we’ve got to get ahead. Other than that, just growing pains.”

The teams split the season series after St. Pauls won 2-1 on March 26.

Both teams are in the midst of a stretch of three conference games in four days; St. Pauls hosts Fairmont on Friday, having lost to the Golden Tornadoes on Tuesday before Wednesday’s setback at Red Springs.

“We’re going to have (Jaden Parker) on the mound, he’s going to give us his best shot like he always does,” Bladen Strickland. “I say he’s arguably one of the best pitchers in the county, as a junior. The future’s going to still be bright; we’ve just got to get through these tough times. It’s part of the process.”

Red Springs welcomes Clinton on Friday, looking to build from a win over the Dark Horses Tuesday and Wednesday’s win over St. Pauls.

“I knew tonight, if we could come out and get another win back to back, that’s just going to take the pressure off for Friday night and we’re going to come out with a lot of confidence,” Matt Strickland said. “I’ve been preaching all week that I want to be 3-0 (this week). I said it before this game, and I’m going to say it before Friday night’s game: the job isn’t done.”