The Effingham Hearts finally showed a little life on offense in the nightcap Saturday, giving them a split in a doubleheader at Mt. Zion.

The Hearts collected eight hits, got a home run from Jackson Lee and scored in four innings, en route to a 6-1 victory that put an end to their seven-game losing skid.

In the opener, EHS managed just five hits and got blanked 2-0. It was the fourth time the Hearts have been shut out in their last seven games.

The Hearts got a pair of solid pitching performances. Lee gave up only four hits and two runs and struck out 12 in the first game, but just didn’t receive any run support.

In the nightcap, Brayden Pals pitched 5.2 innings of shutout baseball to get the win. Matthew Loy took care of the final 1.1 innings of work and gave up just one unearned run.

The Hearts took the lead in the opening inning of the second game. Quest Hull, who had four hits in the twin-bill, led off with a double and scored on a base hit by Lee.

In the third, Lee sent a pitch over the leftfield fence to increase the EHS lead to 2-0.

The Hearts then tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Preston Latch got things started with a double. Then with two outs, Hull ripped an RBI triple, followed by two walks to load the bases and a single by Jack Blickem to drive in two and make it 5-0.

Things looked promising in the first inning of the opener as well. Hull led off with a base hit, but was erased in a double play. Lee and Blickem then had back-to-back singles, but were left stranded.

Effingham had just two more hits over the final six innings – a third inning single by Hull and a base hit by Kalen Reardon in the seventh.

The Hearts actually loaded the bases with just one out in the seventh. In addition to Reardon’s hit, they also had two walks. But the final two batters struck out.

Mt. Zion bunched together three of their five hits in the sixth. Jonathan Oliger drove home the first run with a triple, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Jacob Bailey.

Oliger got the win for the Braves, going the first six innings. Ethan Hamrick relieved to start the seventh, but after the bases were loaded, Ryne Buttz came on to record the two strikeouts and earn the save.

The Hearts are now 11-8 overall and 3-2 in the Apollo Conference. They will have another conference contest Tuesday at Mahomet-Seymour.