There was energy galore.

There was tension palpable in the cool night air.

There were thrust-and-parry momentum shifts and down-to-the-very-last-out drama.

What else would you have expected when Douglas Freeman and Mills Godwin met Friday for another exciting episode in their decades-long baseball rivalry?

This time, the Eagles reigned supreme.

Playing at home in a game honoring first responders, Coach John Fletcher’s guys made the most of a four-run sixth inning fueled by Jacob Babcock’s two-run shot over the centerfield fence to score an 8-5 victory in a nail-biter that lasted two hours, 45 minutes.

“They always show up ready to play us,” Fletcher said. “We always show up ready to play them. Both teams know it’s going to go down to the last inning or two.”

Godwin (6-1) scored a run in the first inning and another in the second to go up 2-0.

Matt Hartsfield, who led off the first with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and raced home on an infield out.

Will Canfield led off the Eagles’ second with a single, moved to second on Brooks Trentadue’s sacrifice bunt, hustled to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Carter Donham’s sacrifice fly.

Freeman (5-3) answered with two runs in the top of the third.

Gabe Winterhoff smacked a lead-off double and ultimately scored on Matthew Berrey’s single to left. In short order, Jack Adams, who reached base on a too-hot-to-handle infield hit, scored when Tommy Noland drew a bases-loaded walk.

The Eagles were undaunted.

“Our guys stuck to the process,” Fletcher said. “They made adjustments at the plate, and they didn’t quit.

“We had some bad breaks, but they kept their focus on doing their jobs and playing their roles. Everybody picked each other up. They celebrated the little things like getting a sac(rifice bunt) down and drawing a two-strike walk.”

The Eagles led 4-3 after five innings but saw their advantage disappear when Freeman pushed across two runs in the top of the sixth.

Brody Parker, the Mavericks’ leadoff hitter, earned a pass to first when he was hit by a pitch and moved to second when Briggs Robinson reached base on an infield error.

Both advanced when Winterhoff delivered a well-executed sacrifice bunt. Parker scored on an infield out, and Robinson ultimately scored on a wild pitch.

Crunch time had arrived for the Eagles.

They had no choice but to rise to the challenge.

Donham, the leadoff hitter, ignited the rally when he was hit by a pitch and hustled to first.

He advanced to second when pinch hitter Milan Larew laid down a sacrifice bunt.

Hartsfield’s single to center scored Donham, who never broke stride as he rounded third, then slid head-first, with dust flying, across home plate, just ahead of the throw.

Alex Boyd followed with a sharp single up the leftfield line to score Hartsfield, who, like Donham, slid head-first across the plate with the go-ahead run.

The non-stop chatter from the Eagles’ dugout told the story.

“We were resilient,” said Hartsfield, a VMI-bound senior shortstop who went 2-for-4. “We didn’t quit. There were things that didn’t go our way: walks, errors, and bad at-bats, all of the above. We stuck together. We knew what we needed to do. It came out our way.”

The best was yet to come.

Babcock followed Boyd in the batting order, worked his way to a 3-2 count, then smacked a waist-high fastball onto the gravel path and into the pines behind the 350-foot centerfield wall.

“We were battling back and forth all game,” said Babcock. “I was just looking for my pitch. I knew he’d come at me with a fastball eventually. I sat on it. I trusted my training and letting my game flow. Did what I could with the pitch. Hit it hard. Make them make a play. It was really exciting. Team got riled up. It was a great moment.”

The Mavericks refused to go easily, but the Eagles’ defense responded with aplomb.

Donham, the catcher, fired a strike to Babcock at third to catch a baserunner attempting to steal.

Trentadue’s unassisted double play at first brought the game to conclusion.

“Every time we play Freeman, it’s a heated game, a close game,” Hartsfield said. “Our guys have each other’s backs. When we make a mistake, our teammates pick us up, and we move on to the next pitch.”