FERRIDAY &8212; The Hounds of Huntington High School had too much bite for the Mustangs of River Oaks Friday night, winning 8-5 in the District 7-A contest.

Huntington is tied with Franklin Academy in its district, and the victory keeps the Hounds&8217; own fate in their hands.

A win is a win, but according to Huntington head coach Mitch Ashmore, his team didn&8217;t play to its potential.

&8220;It&8217;s always good to get a district win, but I am very displeased with the way that we played tonight,&8221; Ashmore said. &8220;River Oaks has good athletes, and we just got lucky. They deserved it more than we did.&8221;

Huntington left-hander Trey Brasher was not counting on any luck but rather skill. He threw a complete game and struck out 10, and he also smashed a solo home run over the right field wall into a strong wind in the second inning to put his team on the board.

&8220;Trey is going to give us a chance every time he goes out there, and that&8217;s why I pitch him in big games,&8221; Ashmore said.

&8220;I tried to hit a line drive and hit it too good,&8221; Brasher said.

On pitching, he said, &8220;I just warmed up a lot and got a good sweat up so I can throw the ball good.&8221;

Huntington came up with the clutch hits when it mattered the most in the sixth to win the game. Huntington trailed 6-5 but capitalized from back-to-back walks to lead of the inning.

Richard Steele came up with a clutch hit by smashing a two-RBI double down the third-base line to score Landon Willard and Tony Jordan and take the lead 6-5.

Trey Corbett and catcher Ples Arthur then put some insurance runs on the board with back-to-back RBI doubles to put the lead at

8-5.

River Oaks jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second inning after Michel Husted scored from a pass ball. Then Thomas Henry hit a two-RBI double to score courtesy runner Paul McCarter and first baseman Will White.

Huntington then replied when Brasher hit a solo home run to make it a 3-1 ball game after the second inning.

Michel Husted hit an RBI double to score short stop Sam Herman in the third inning. Huntington then scored from a pass ball to let home right fielder Brant Bradley.

The Mustangs got an RBI single in the fourth from Herman to score Dillon McGraw to lead 5-2. The Hounds refused to let the game get away by scoring both in the fourth inning and the fifth. Brasher hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field to score Bradley in the fifth inning to keep the Hounds within sniffing distance trailing by only one run in a 5-6 ball game.

&8220;We played hard and played the type of ball we should have been playing all year.&8221; River Oaks head coach Danny McGraw said.