Mason Hamby had three hits and two stolen bases. (Monte Dutton photo)

As first home runs of a season go, Laurens’ Hunter Nabors demonstrated exquisite timing.

With one out and one run in, one ball and one strike, the Raider second baseman hammered a blast to right field to give Laurens (15-9-1) a 4-0 lead in what wound up being a 6-2 victory over Northwestern (11-15) in the first round of the Class 4A baseball playoffs on Monday night at Ed Prescott Field.

It took that lovely moment to lower righthander Josh Hughes by a paragraph. Hughes stopped the Rock Hill school on three hits and four walks, striking out two in a complete game conquest. Sixty of his 96 pitches found the strike zone.

Andrew Sands, the Trojan catcher, got a couple back with a bomb of his own in the top of the fifth inning, but the rally was short-lived because Laurens scored one run in the bottom half on first baseman Jackson Martin’s double and another two batters later on catcher Bennett Edwards’ well-placed triple, sending Martin home.

Hughes then retired six of the seven remaining Northwestern batters – the other reached on an error – with no hits, no runs and no drama. From the time that Edwards singled in Ben Willis, who had doubled before Nabors’ homer, it was all Laurens.

The Raiders totaled 10 hits off three Trojan hurlers – the starter, Owen Sarna, took the loss – and conquered Northwestern with precision. Sarna didn’t walk any and fanned nine, but the rest of his numbers faded. Nine of the Laurens hits were at his expense, and all six of the runs in 4-1/3 innings were earned.

Left fielder Mason Hamby rapped three singles in as many at-bats and swiped a pair of bases.

Greenwood defeated Midland Valley, 10-2, on Tuesday and will take on the Raiders on the Eagles’ home field on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.