The Martin Luther King Jr. Lions scored three runs in each of the first two innings on the way to an 8-3 victory against the Creekside Seminoles to earn a sweep in Region 4-4A high school baseball action at King on Friday evening.

The Seminoles (1-10, 0-8) picked up a run in the top of the first inning and the Lions (11-4, 5-1) responded with three in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.

Brandon Ray was hit by a pitch to start the first inning and followed up by stealing second and third to set up an RBI groundout by Keontae Banks to tie the game at 1-1. Cameron Cook was the second hit batter for the Lions, and he trotted to first place with two out in the inning.

Kaleb Scott’s fly ball to left field was misplayed and Cook who had stolen second, scored on the play for a 2-1 advantage. Scott scored on a balk to make it 3-1 heading into the second inning.

Creekside’s Cameron McCrary reached on a two-out, infield single in the to of the second but King catcher Jordan Ford threw him out on an attempted steal to end the inning.

Jaharre Leach slapped a triple to the right field corner to start the Lions’ half of the inning and scored on a wild pitch to up the lead to 4-1. Banks reached on a bunt to load the bases and Evan Fulks was hit by a pitch to drive to drive in Ford who had reached on a single. Banks closed out the inning as he scored on wild pitch to make it a 6-1 margin for the Lions.

Creekside changed pitchers in the third inning going to Caiden Billingslea in place of starter Adrian Wallis. Billingslea pitched three scoreless innings holding the Lions to just one hit while striking out four.

Meanwhile, Lions starter Evan Fulks allowed no runs for four innings since the first inning run by the Seminoles. An error allowed Creekside’s Takeevius Thornton to move to third and score on a groundout to the right side by Larence Wilder to cut the lead to 6-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Jordan Ford helped the Lions respond as he blasted a solo homer over the left field fence which was just the second hit allowed by Billingslea over four innings. Jackson Turner followed with a walk and his pinch runner would come around to score to make it an 8-2 lead.

Fulks needed three outs but managed just two as a walk and back-to-back hits by the Seminoles ended his day by the pitch count and Brandon Ray took his place on the mound. The Lions intentionally walked Tobias Stephens (2-2), and Ray got a ground out off the bat of Wallis to end the game.

Ford finished the day 2-3 with a home run to lead the Lions while Turner finished 2-2. Takeevius Thornton was 3-3 to lead the Seminoles.