The Gaffney High baseball team mixed in some gutty pitching by Cameron Culp and some timely hits from Dylan Jolley and Michael Hughey to pick up its first region win with a 7-4 victory over visiting Mauldin on Friday.

Culp allowed just five hits and struck out six in his first varsity start.

"Cameron did well," Gaffney coach Tom Owens said. "He got into a bind a couple of times but kept his poise. He definitely pitched well."

And for the first time since capturing a preseason tournament, the Indians hit well. Hughey had three hits and Jolley and Tyler Wilson each had two. One of Jolley's hits was a solo homer in the fourth inning.

"We started putting some hits together," Owens said. "We got eight hits against a top-10 ranked team and that's pretty good. We didn't chase anything."

The Mavericks hit a pair of solo homers in the second to go up 2-0. But the Indians pulled within a run in the bottom of the inning.

Gaffney went ahead for good with four runs in the third. Hughey and Jolley reached on base hits before Bubba Wright delivered a key RBI hit to get things going for the Indians.

Mauldin pulled within a run with two runs in the fourth before Jolley extended the Indians lead to 6-4 with a solo blast in same frame.

The Indians gave Culp more breathing room in the sixth when McCrae Norton doubled and scored on Hughey's base hit.

Owens said he hopes Friday's game is the start of a turnaround for the Indians.

"We looked like a team," he said. "This is the way that we thought we were going to play at the beginning of the year. I'm real proud of the team. We knew that we had to turn things around. The kids have never quit."

The Indians host Easley today in a makeup game. Gaffney then plays Lancaster on Wednesday, Easley again on Thursday and region-leading Boiling Springs at Commissioners Field on Friday.