Hatley, a senior right-hander who struck out 10 batters and allowed only one late walk, stayed unbeaten (6-0), as did the first-place Mustangs, who stand 9-0 in the SPC and 14-0 overall.

“I was very concerned about what they could do with the bats,” said Hatley, who allowed a first-inning triple off the center field fence by Jamie Tucker and a fourth-inning single up the middle by Josh Fregosi.

“Both of them were hit pretty good. Tucker’s mash off the wall: I was hoping it would stay in the ball park. Then Fregosi’s base hit up the middle was hit pretty good, too. Both of them are pretty good hitters. You just can’t get Tucker out easy,” said Hatley.

“I knew their 1 through 5 in the lineup is real strong, and the rest of them are hitting the ball pretty good, too. I was just concentrating a lot coming in here tonight just trying to do the best I can. I didn’t think they were only going to get two hits. I knew they would have more hits than that. The Lord was with me tonight. He helped me out there,” said Hatley.

Hatley also had praise for the help he got from his teammates.

“My fastball and my slider were working pretty good tonight, plus having a great defense behind me. They didn’t make any errors — a bunch of credit to the defense,” he said.

Hatley got seven ground-ball outs, including three each by shortstop Cal Hayes Jr. and second baseman Justin Miller. There were four outfield fly outs.

East coach Jeff Safrit, like Hatley, was concerned about the Vikings’ strong hitting, especially that of Tucker, a right-handed power hitter.

“We did not want Tucker at the plate with three men on and 5-1. Brian: He sucks it up. He was disappointed that he walked that one there (Brandon Queen) in the last inning. I said, ‘Hey, be happy you got out of here tonight with one walk.’ That was a heck of a job,” said Safrit.

Both Hatley and Safrit said the victory over the third-place Vikings (8-4, 6-4) was important for the unbeaten Mustangs.

“This was a big game for us,” said Hatley. “The quality of their ball club: They’re so good. ... Plus, we didn’t want to give anything to (second-place) Piedmont (6-2 in the league), because they’re right on our tail, too. Any slip-up that we have could throw us off course pretty bad. This was a big win for us coming into a big week next week.”

East hosts Piedmont on Monday, then travels to West Rowan on Wednesday and Harding on Friday.

“They’ve got a good chance of making the playoffs. He (Central coach Brian Tyson) has got the pitching, and they’re going to hit it. They’ve always hit it. They’ll be around when it’s over probably,” said Safrit.

East scored all the runs Hatley needed in the opening inning when Hayes, Drew Davis and Hatley singled, then Brett Peiffer walked to force in a run. Another run scored on a fielder’s-choice grounder by Jonathan Heyer for a 2-0 lead.

The Mustangs added three more runs, two unearned, in the second.

Adam Cornelius led off with a walk, moved to second on Hayes’ bunt single and scored on another hit by Davis.

Two errors led to the other two runs.

East added another unearned run in the fifth.

Safrit was glad to get a rare victory at Central.

“We haven’t won down here, I don’t think, since ‘95. We did beat them in the tournament: It may have been in ‘96 in the tournament finals.

“But in a regular-season game, we haven’t won down here since we won the state (1995). It’s a hard place to play. They’re always ready to play. They’ve had some great players down here, too,” he said.