Coach Butch Austin summed up his thoughts of Pike Liberal Arts’ 15-14 victory of Macon-East Montgomery Academy with just one word, “Ugly.”

After seeing Pike take the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a towering home run to left by Myles Loving, Macon-East tied the game in the top of the seventh with an infield single.

Robert Benton reached on an infield single for the Pats in the top of the seventh.

Benton later stole second base, and moved to third on a balk by the Knights’ pitcher.

Dustin Newman drove in the winning run on a deep sacrifice fly to left field.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” said Newman. “I had a runner on third, and wanted to bring him in. I’m just so proud of the way our team never quit fighting.”

Austin echoed his player’s sentiments.

“The thought there is to get a man on, get him over and get him in,” said Austin. “We did that, and these youngins never quit. They want to win, and we need that come playoff time

The longtime Patriot skipper said that he is happy to get the win, but his team must improve before the playoff begins.

“We didn’t play well in the field tonight,” said Austin. “We hit the ball well, but we had way too many errors. We had seven up at Ft. Dale on Saturday, and had about that many today. We will work on that tomorrow afternoon for sure.”

The win for the Patriots gave them a leg up in the region race late in the season, and has the team looking for another trip to the playoffs.

Pike Liberal will be back in action on Thursday April 4 at Emmanuel Christian.