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Polk County struck early Thursday, then held on for dear life late.

The Wolverines built a 6-0 lead at East Henderson, then survived an Eagle rally to take an 8-6 victory in a non-conference varsity matchup.

Polk County (3-0) scored in each of the first four innings but scored two key runs in the top of the seventh as Karson Scruggs singled to drive in Lawson Carter and Alex Perry singled to plate Mason Beiler and give the Wolverines an 8-4 edge.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, East Henderson took advantage of two walks, an error and a base hit to score two runs. But with the tying run on base, Carter induced a fly ball to left to end the game.

The Wolverines scored in the first as Gunnar Alm singled, stole second and third and scored on a Carter sacrifice fly.

Scruggs drew a one-out walk in the second, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Perry single, with Perry moving all the way to third on an East Henderson miscue. Cohen Edwards then laced a single to center to drive home Perry and make it 3-0.

The lead grew to 4-0 in the third as Noah Harden and Avrey Hensley drew walks, with Harden scoring on Scruggs’ two-out single. The Wolverines then pushed across two runs in the fourth with two outs as Mark Jarrett singled, then scored on an error on an Alm fly ball to center. Alm then stole home to make it 6-0.

Scruggs finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, with Jarrett and Perry each going 2-for-4. Alm, Noah Harden, Hensley and Edwards each added a base hit.

Alm also recorded four stolen bases, finishing one short of the school record.

Harden earned the win, pitching five innings and allowing three runs on two hits. He struck out nine. Carter pitched two innings of relief, striking out two and giving up one earned run on three hits.

Polk County returns to action Tuesday, opening Mountain Foothills 7 Conference play at home against Hendersonville.