Alamogordo: As Friday's game with the Hobbs Eagles approached, Tiger head coach Art Lopez and his team wanted to maintain its momentum heading into District 3-5A play next Tuesday.

Mission accomplished.

The Tigers rapped out 10 hits and used three pitchers to contain Hobbs in a 7-3 victory Friday night at Tiger Field. Dylan Flesch's two-run first-inning home run helped set the offensive tone while Blake Thomsen, Julian Soucy and Eric Dorton combined on an eight-hit, seven-strikeout performance for Alamogordo (8-4).

The Tigers own a four-game winning streak as they prepare to play Mayfield at Apodaca Park in Las Cruces Tuesday.

"We saw the ball real well, and we knew we wanted to jump out early on (Hobbs starter Kaleb Nelson)," Eric Dorton said. "He was good, his curveball was all right and his fastball was live ... but we jumped on it early and it paid off."

As for the pitching, the senior added "we were on our game, hitting our spots. We gave up a few hits here and there, but mostly spread them out."

Thomsen moved to 5-2 on the season and gave up a deuces-wild line of two hits, two walks and two strikeouts in three innings of work. He threw 42 pitches, then gave way to Soucy in the fourth inning.

"We didn't want to overtax our pitching staff with district play coming up,." Lopez said of the pitching changes. "We wanted to keep our pitchers' pitch counts under 40 if at all possible, and we pretty much accomplished that."

Lopez's strategy almost backfired as Soucy, the No. 2 starter, gave up five consecutive base hits three singles, a fielder's choice and a double as Hobbs cut Alamogordo's lead to 4-2. However, Josh Gibson got picked off second base by Soucy for out No. 1 and Byron Tyler was forced out at second on a Kameran McIlroy hit, which plated the first Hobbs run, for out No. 2.

A Josh Weldy RBI double plated McIlroy, and two separate steals after a walk to Brian Hurst put Eagles at second and third with two outs.

Soucy responded with a strikeout of Michael Bates to end the inning, and the senior dropped three more Ks on the board to sit down Hobbs 1-2-3 in the fifth inning. He finished with 41 pitches thrown and his first hold of the year.

Dorton, the Tiger closer, got out of a leadoff hit batter in the sixth inning with a groundout, a pop fly into foul territory and a strikeout, and gave up a "doesn't matter" run in the seventh as Joshua Parsons singled home Bates for the 7-3 final. The senior starter-turned-closer is 3-for-3 in save attempts.

"Their off-speed stuff was really good today," Flesch, who platooned with David Dorton at catcher, said. "We wanted to make sure they stayed fresh, and we're good enough to have all three come in and pitch. They're doing a great job right now."

On the other side of the plate, Eric Dorton led off the bottom of the first with a triple off Nelson (1-4), then came home on a passed ball. Nelson surrendered a double to Paul Stewart, then a one-out, 0-2 home run to Flesch for a 3-0 Alamogordo lead.

"I've been in slump lately, and me and Dortie worked on hitting a lot this week. I just hit the ball good today," Flesch said. "(Nelson threw me) an 0-2 fastball right down the middle."

Chimed in Thomsen: "Don't do that, don't ever throw that."

The Tigers made it a 4-0 advantage in the third when Thomsen singled and pinch-runner Robert Klieves scored on David Dorton's two-out single.

With the lead cut to 4-2, Flesch led the fifth inning off with a single, moved to second on a botched pickoff and stole third base. He came home on a passed ball for a 5-2 Tiger edge; Alamogordo plated its final two runs in the sixth on RBI hits by Thomsen (doubling in Stewart) and David Dorton (singling in Thomsen).

Nelson pitched a complete-game, 122-pitch affair. He gave up 10 hits, two walks and hit Dorton but struck out nine batters.

Bates, who came into the game with a .372 average, went 2-for-4; Parsons (1-for-3), McIlroy (0-for-3) and Weldy (1-for-3) had Hobbs' RBIs.

"We still have a lot to learn about the game," Hobbs head coach Marco Boyle said. "Day in and day out we try to teach them, and it's tough having to teach while playing varsity baseball. But that's the only way you can get it done."

Dorton, Flesch (stolen base), Stewart (stolen base) and Thomsen each went 2-for-4; Dorton, Flesch and Thomsen combined for all five Tiger RBIs.

Eric Dorton (triple, two stolen bases) and Davidjoe Gonzales (1-for-2, walk) had the other base knocks.

"The intention was to generate offense ... it just so happened we were able to get a real good fastball pitcher and we were able to hit it solid off him," Lopez said. "The kids read the ball really well on the bases and at the plate."