SALTILLO - Saltillo needed this one.

New Hope got it, beating the host Tigers 8-6 Friday evening in a Division 2-5A game.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 10-10, 2-4 in the division. New Hope is 17-5, 5-1.

New Hope catcher Tee Payne sang all the right notes for the Trojans, wrapping a game-tying home run over the left field fence and providing a late insurance run.

Tied at 5 in the sixth, Taylor Stafford put the Trojans ahead. With runners at the corners and two outs, his second single plated Jace Caldwell. Payne followed with an RBI single to left that would prove vital.

New Hope added a run on starting pitcher Peyton Lee's single in the seventh.

Down 8-5, Saltillo made it interesting in the final inning against new pitcher Stafford. A bases loaded walk to pinch hitter Nick Floyd scored Blake Houston but Stafford got leadoff hitter Kyle Young to pop out on one pitch and A.J. Rye to look at strike three.

"We had opportunities. We can't get the hit," Saltillo coach Johnny Bolen said. "We've got the right people at the plate. We're just not hitting the baseball."

The Tigers have lost four straight division games, the first three each by one run. New Hope won the first of three meetings 4-3.

Saltillo threatened in the sixth, but with two on, Chase Hill's hard-hit ball was nabbed by New Hope third baseman Landon Boyd.

"We've tried everything. I don't know," Bolen said. "We've just got to keep working at it. I keep telling them, 'The hits are going to come.' I don't know when."

Run for run

The teams matched three-run innings early on. Saltillo scored on Cosby Repult's single. Chase Watson reached on an error with the bases loaded to score a run and Tori Gifford's had an RBI fielder's choice.

New Hope tied the game in the second on Caldwell's two-run single.

Saltillo (10-10, 2-4) pushed across runs in the second and fourth innings on singles from Repult and Hill.

Payne tied it in the fifth and after a walk, Hill relieved Saltillo starter Blake Wiggington.

"We got some big hits with people on base," New Hope coach Lee Boyd said. "These teams in this division are so even. We've played so many close games."

Lee struck out three in the win. Hill took the loss.

brandon.speck@journalinc.com