The Community Vikings exhibited marked improvement offensively against District 9-A foe Forrest, but could not match the feat on the defensive side of the ball, committing seven errors to fall 18-5 in a five-inning affair in Chapel Hill.

The Rockets started the game on the fast track by scoring eight runs on eight hits in their first two at-bats to take what appeared to be a commanding lead into the third inning before the Viking (2-4-1, 2-4 9-A) bats came alive in their half.

Cody Pierce started the rally with a two-out walk, followed by a single from Michael Smith and a booming two-run double into the left-center field gap by Lance Paschal.

After a Dustin White walk, second baseman Grant Patterson delivered an RBI double and Chris West added a single that the Forrest right fielder misplayed into a two base error to allow Patterson to score the fifth run of the inning for the Vikings.

"We hit the ball much better today," Community coach Josh Burrahm said. "I was pretty pleased that we made a run at them after being down by eight runs early, but I am still very concerned that we are not able to catch the baseball and make the plays to keep us in games.

"Cody pitched a pretty good game and deserved a better result."

The Rockets roared right back to score eight runs in the bottom of the third to put the game out of reach.

Forrest (7-6, 3-2) finished with 15 hits with Colin Henson leading the way with a perfect 4-for-4 day with three runs scored.

Pierce reached base twice for the Vikings and had two stolen bases and a run scored.