WALES — A line drive came screaming at Sam Morin’s head during the seventh inning of Friday’s MVC baseball game between Mountain Valley and Oak Hill, but the senior pitcher’s life didn’t flash before his eyes.

“It was more like, ‘Can I graduate now?'” Morin said.

Morin sidestepped the frozen rope, swallowed his heart and struck out the potential tying run at the plate to cap a brilliant relief outing and a 7-4 Oak Hill win. He tossed four scoreless innings and four different hitters collected two hits apiece to help the Raiders break a 4-4 tie.

“We needed this one. It’s been a tough week,” said Oak Hill coach Matt Bray, whose team improved to 3-3 after a 4-3 extra-inning loss to St. Dom’s and a 3-1 loss to Lisbon this week. “We’ve been right there. We’ve lost three games by a combined four runs, so this was a good win for us.”

Mountain Valley (2-3) rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to tie the game with four runs in the third. Bray pulled starter and ace Ryan Riordan, who has been battling a sore arm, and sent in Morin, who surrendered four hits but didn’t walk anyone while fanning four.

“A lot of times with lefties I love that outside zone, and with righties I’ll mix it up a little bit, high and low,” Morin said. “I keep them guessing, always make sure I work the plate.”

“He did a heck of a job,” Mountain Valley coach Steve LaPointe said. “He had great location. He didn’t overpower anybody but he put the ball on the outside part of the plate and he has a nice breaking ball.”

Oak Hill took the lead for good when the Falcons’ center fielder appeared to lose Parker Asselin’s fly ball in the sun to start the fifth. Asselin stole third and scored when the catcher’s throw went into left field.

The Raiders added two insurance runs in the sixth on Brady Dion’s RBI triple and Jake Bannister’s RBI single.

Riordan had an RBI single and Jonah Martin a two-run double as the Raiders jumped out to the 4-0 lead. Dion, Bannister, Riordan and Asselin had two hits apiece to lead Oak Hill offensively.

“Brady has been hitting the ball hard all year. He’s leading the team in batting average (and) on-base percentage. That’s why he’s at the top of the order,” Bray said. “Parker had another big hit today. He’s been hitting the ball all over the place.”

Josh Rainey’s two-run single, an error, and two passed balls led to Mountain Valley’s four-run third that tied it. Rainey, Sean Murphy and Adam Volkernick had two hits apiece to lead the Falcons’ nine-hit attack.

“We had some chances,” LaPointe said. “We have to make the most of those opportunities. But I thought we hit the ball pretty well today.”

After a 1-2-3 fifth, the Falcons got their leadoff man, Colin Merrill, on in the sixth. But a missed take sign, intended to give Merrill a shot at stealing second, led to a rally-killing double play. Dalton Therrien, who replaced Morin in right field, caught the fly ball and easily doubled-up the runner at first.

The Falcons tried to stage a two-out rally in the seventh when Dylan Akers singled and Adam Volkernick sent a line drive base hit back through the box, which Morin was able to lean away from just in time.

“It was kind of like a ‘Matrix’ move,” Morin said.

Morin kept his composure and fanned Ryan Nicols to end it.

“Sam throw strikes and he’s a senior,” Bray said. “He’s been here. He knows when there are guys on base, it doesn’t matter. He’s got to get the hitter. He’s been very, very good for us.”