The Hearts got on the board in the second inning. Jack Blickem and Christian Raddatz walked. Both runners eventually scored on RBI ground outs by Max Hardiek and Joe Matteson.

EHS made it 3-0 in the third. Blickem got a one-out single, stole second and scored when Raddatz lined a pitch into the right-centerfield gap for an RBI triple.

After the Railers pushed across two runs in the fourth, the Hearts added a single tally in the fifth and two more runs in the sixth.

In the fifth, Raddatz singled, went to second on a ground ball and scored on a base hit by Hardiek. Lee had an RBI single in the sixth and the final run scored on a double steal.

“I thought we battled on offense,” McNeely said. “We want to make sure we swing at strikes. We preach and preach and preach that.

“We’re not timid at the plate and we won’t shy away from competition,” McNeely added. “We want to hit fastballs and we want to hit them early. We also preach to get into a hitter’s count, then look for the fastball and be aggressive. I guarantee you our guys won’t get cheated.”

The Hearts improved to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Apollo Conference. They will play Monday at Neoga, Friday at Flora and then return home Saturday to face Charleston in a conference game.