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A freshman made certain Polk County’s Senior Night would be a celebration at game’s end as well as its beginning.

Pitcher Nate Fagan kept Chase in check for six innings Monday, with the Wolverine offense providing plenty of support in an 8-3 Mountain Foothills 7 Conference victory at The Bottoms.

Throw in an error-free performance by the Polk defense and the presence of a number of former players in the stands and head coach Billy Alm couldn’t have asked for a much better evening.

“I think that’s three wins in a row, so that would be a win streak,” Alm said with a smile.

Polk County (9-10, 3-6) scored three runs in the first and never trailed as Fagan escaped a couple of early jams. He retired 12 of 13 batters from the middle of the second inning through the fifth, allowing only a walk in that span, and finished the night with five hits allowed and three strikeouts in his six innings of work.

With Fagan nearly at the pitch count limit, senior Avrey Hensley pitched a scoreless seventh to complete the victory.

“Nate’s toed the rubber three or four times now and just goes out there and does his job,” Alm said. “Nothing flashy, just throws strikes. And we make plays behind him. He works quick, our guys play good defense behind him.

“He didn’t have his best stuff tonight, and he came in and told us that. But he just worked back and did his thing.”

Polk rattled Chase (8-12, 3-6) early. Gunnar Alm beat out an infield single to open the bottom of the first, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt and stole third before Mark Jarrett singled sharply to left to plate Alm. The steal was the 73rd of Alm’s career, setting a new school record.

An out later, with Jarrett on second, Hensley singled up the middle, driving in Jarrett. An error on Alex Perry’s grounder and a Fagan walk loaded the bases, with Noah Harden’s sacrifice fly scoring Hensley for a 3-0 lead.

Alm started the Wolverine rally in the fourth with a ground-rule double to left-center. With two outs and Alm on third, Hensley drilled a double into the left-field corner, scoring Alm, and Perry followed with a drive into the right-field corner that eluded the Chase outfielder, allowing Hensley to easily score and Perry to motor around to third for a triple.

Fagan followed with a single to right that allowed Perry to race home for a 7-1 Polk lead.

The Wolverines added a run in the fifth as Alm was drilled in the back for the second time in the game. He stole second before Jarrett made contact on a checked swing, tapping a slow roller in front of the plate. Chase’s infield converged on the ball to retire Jarrett at first, but left home plate unguarded, and Alm raced around from second to score.

Hensley finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, with Alm 2-for-2 with three runs and two steals. Jarrett was 1-for-4 with two RBI, with Perry 1-for-3 with an RBI. Fagan and Harden were each 1-for-2 with an RBI.

“Avrey Hensley, since we did a couple of drills in the cage, a light popped on. He’s been killing the baseball,” Billy Alm said. “(Gunnar Alm) is probably the toughest out in North Carolina right now, and then we get big hits from AP and Mark Jarrett. Mark’s really stepped up in the two hole for us.

“And we’ve got other guys coming on. It’s definitely pleasing, especially getting ready for the playoffs to come in the next couple of weeks.”

The two teams will meet again Tuesday at Chase.