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A solid pitching performance by Polk County’s Noah Harden was overshadowed Friday as R-S Central claimed a 4-0 victory in Mountain Foothills 7 Conference varsity baseball action at The Bottoms.

Despite holding the Hilltoppers to just three hits, the Wolverines were undone by a combination of defensive miscues and offensive struggles that proved costly in the conference matchup.

R-S Central capitalized on Polk County errors in the second inning, pushing across two unearned runs to take an early lead. The Hilltoppers maintained that advantage until the sixth inning, when they delivered the decisive sequence of the game.

A Landon Whitley double, two walks, sacrifice fly and a Wolverine error allowed two more runs to cross the plate, extending R-S Central’s lead to 4-0 and effectively putting the game out of reach.

Harden delivered an impressive performance on the mound for Polk County, allowing just three hits and one earned run while striking out three batters in six innings of work. Aaden Denton pitched a clean seventh inning with one strikeout to close out the game for the Wolverines.

Offensively, Polk County was limited to just one hit – a first-inning single by Harden. The Wolverines worked nine walks against R-S Central pitchers Christian Walker and Simon Sheehan, but couldn’t convert those opportunities into runs.

Walker earned the win for the Hilltoppers, holding Polk County to one hit over five innings while striking out four. Sheehan closed out the game with two hitless innings and four strikeouts.

The loss drops Polk County to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play, while R-S Central improves to 5-2, 2-0.

The Wolverines will look to bounce back on Monday when they travel to Burns for a non-conference game scheduled for 6 p.m.