WAUKEE — The Fort Dodge baseball team had six outs to avoid a doubleheader sweep at Waukee on Friday night.

The Dodgers had dropped a lopsided opener, and were down 5-2 in the top of the sixth inning during the second contest.

Despite running on fumes and out of chances, head coach Blake Utley had a feeling something positive might come from the road trip before all was said and done.

Sure enough, Fort Dodge (4-1 overall) pieced together a four-run rally late and hung on from there, taking a 6-5 nightcap victory.

“I think we grew up and showed some resilience,” Utley said. “I’m just super proud of them for not giving up.

“When you’re down three runs late to a quality opponent on the road, the easy thing to do is just call it a night and go home. We have some tough kids who hate to lose, though, and they deserve a lot of credit for coming back and beating the odds.”

A walk to senior Karch Smith got the ball rolling in the sixth, with back-to-back singles from Jace Johnson and Rylan Kingrey coming next to load the bases.

Junior Royce Pederson, freshman Tru McBride and freshman Tanner Peterson then drew consecutive walks to force in the tying runs, and a sacrifice fly lineout by Jase Nekvinda plated the go-ahead score.

The Warriors (4-3) threatened in the bottom of the seventh, putting the tying run at third base with two outs. Kingrey tracked down a deep fly ball in right-centerfield by Brayden Moore to end the contest, though.

Kingrey went 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored. Pederson drove in a pair.

In his first varsity start, McBride worked 3.1 innings, allowing two earned runs. Peterson pitched the final 2.2 innings for the win.

“We really shored up our defense and did a much better job of communicating,” Utley said. “We were much better at competing and showing our potential after (the 16-1 loss in the opener).”

Smith and Kingrey doubled in game one. Smith had two hits and the lone RBI.

Waukee plated five runs in the first, four more in the second, and six in the the third to quickly pull away.

Kingrey put the Dodgers up early in the latter contest, and FDSH led 2-0 in the fourth when the Warriors rallied for five runs.

“The first game was kind of a sloppy mess,” Utley said. “We didn’t come ready to play on a consistent level.

“It was just great to see us respond. Tru handled his first varsity start well, despite being (just a freshman). Rylan had a big doubleheader. Tanner came in and closed the door, and the defense backed him up by making plays.”

The Dodgers return to action on Monday at Mason City. First pitch in the varsity twinbill is set for 1 p.m.

WAUKEE 16, FORT DODGE 1 (4)

Fort Dodge 001 0 — 1 4 1

Waukee 546 1 — 16 14 0

WP–Hunter Reed; LP–Jase Nekvinda. 2B–FD: Karch Smith, Rylan Kingrey; W: Drew Sabatino, Hunter Reed, Brayden Moore, Braeden Billings. HR–W: Zack Turpin.

FORT DODGE 6, WAUKEE 5

Fort Dodge 010 104 0 — 6 5 1

Waukee 000 500 0 — 5 10 1

WP–Tanner Peterson. LP–Drew Sabatino. 2B–W: Hunter Reed. 3B–W: Grant Sorensen. HR–FD: Rylan Kingrey.