John Motley’s bases clearing double in the third inning helped Dallas County put away Selma Friday in a 10-2 victory.

The game was tied 2-2 going into the third, but the Hornets scored seven times in that inning. No hit was bigger than Motley’s, which scored three runs and upped the Dallas County (7-1) lead to 7-2. Dallas County pitcher Caleb Lester had a huge lead to work with at that point and took advantage of it. He threw six innings and allowed only two runs and two hits.

“I thought we played well early in the game. We got a few runs and then we became inconsistent,” said Dallas County coach Willie Moore. “We loaded the bases three times or maybe four and we didn’t get any runs. Just disappointed in that because when you get the bases loaded and get runners in scoring position, you’ve got to be able to manufacture runs and get them in.”

The Hornets didn’t do that well throughout the game, but in the third inning they took advantage of a bases loaded situation. In the third, Joseph Jones singled to left field to score Trey Vickery and Timothy Williams, giving the Hornets a 4-2 lead. John Hood hit an infield single on a bunt down the third base line to load the bases, but Motley cleared them on the next at-bat.

His hit to deep center field scored Jones, Hood and Paul Daniels and gave Dallas County a 5-run lead. Denson kept the run going, singling to score Motley to make the score 8-2.

“It’s always that one inning that just gives us trouble,” said Selma coach Clifford Matthews. “Once we work past that, we’ll be fine.”

The Hornets tacked on two more runs — Williams scored on a bad throw in the fourth and Jones singled to score Skinner in the sixth — but missed on other chances.

In the bottom of the fifth, Dallas County loaded the bases against Selma relief pitcher Ron Sanders, but Sanders rallied to strike out Denson, Andre Smith and Lester to get out of the jam.

“He’s always going to give you 100 percent. He’s going to do what you ask him to do at all times,” Matthews said of Sanders, Selma’s team captain.

Dallas County struck first on a double by Skinner to left field, which scored Denson and put the Hornets up 1-0. Skinner finished the day 3-for-4.

Selma (1-4) answered with a double by Tyreshon Freeman, which score Jekobi Lee. In the second inning, Dallas County’s Jones scored on a wild pitch and Selma’s Sanders scored a poor pickoff throw to third to tie the game 2-2.

Dallas County took control in the third and didn’t look back. Nicholas Parnell added a final run for Selma in the seventh when he scored off a wild pitch.

Selma’s Nicholas Nettles threw four innings and allowed nine runs. Lester finished with nine strikeouts.

“Caleb has been pitching here as a of late and he’s been really consistent,” Moore said of Lester.

“I thought his breaking pitch is his big out pitch tonight. At times, we got behind the count and became a little predictable and that led to the runs that they got, but I think overall he gave a great effort tonight.”

Lester was pulled before the last bat of the game due to hitting his pitch count limit. Denson came in to strike out Sanders to close the game.

Selma plays at Robert E. Lee Wednesday, while Dallas County plays Keith.