RALEIGH - Sanderson senior Mark Peterson remembers his freshman year when the Spartans won just one game. The next year there were only three victories.

But last year Sanderson made it all the way to the third round of the state 4-A playoffs. This year Peterson and his teammates have advanced to the best-of-three Eastern finals with a fourth-round 2-0 win over Wilmington Hoggard.

Sanderson (19-6), the Cap Seven champion, will face Greenville Rose for the East championship. Rose held off Leesville Road 5-4 to advance.

Sanderson will host Rose tonight at 7. The second game will be at Greenville's Guy Smith Stadium Friday at 7 p.m. A third game, if needed, will be back at Sanderson at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Peterson (5-2) pitched the complete game, giving up just three hits and striking out 10, including the final three in the seventh after he walked the leadoff batter.

"Mark was on from the start of this game," said Sanderson coach Todd Laughlin, who has orchestrated the Spartans' baseball resurgence.

Peterson also had a hand in the key defensive play of the game. With the score 0-0 in the top of the fifth, the Vikings had a runner on third with one out and tried a safety squeeze. Peterson charged the ball and tossed to catcher Max Gagnon, who recorded the out to end the threat.

Sanderson (19-6) then posted its two runs. With one out, Elliot Brody reached base on a dropped third strike. After Robert Brunson sacrificed Brody to third, Eric Brommer delivered an RBI single. Kyle Wood then singled and Kyle Wigmore drove in the second run with a single.

"I was able to spot my fastball and they were chasing my off-speed pitches," said Peterson, who will join the UNC-Greensboro baseball team next year as a preferred walk-on.

Leesville trailed the Rampants 3-1 after five innings but took a 4-3 lead in the sixth on a two-run homer by Alex Foreman and an RBI single by Cody Lyons.

"We played hard and battled back and had a lead going into the bottom of the seventh," Leesville coach Chad Smothers said. "But Rose got the hits when they needed them."

Rose scored the winning run with one out in the seventh.