Winchester — Everyone who’s ever played the game of baseball dreams of that game-winning walk-off home run, but for James Wood High School junior Brock Lockhart, his game-winning infield single Friday night was just as sweet.

Lockhart’s hit in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Travis Viands from third, capping a late-inning three-run rally and propelling No. 3-seeded James Wood to a 3-2 victory over No. 6 Skyline in a Northwestern District quarterfinal at R. Charles Hott Field.

The Colonels will visit No. 2 Sherando Tuesday night.

“All year, there is no quit in this group,” James Wood coach Jared Mounts said. “These guys have the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. They really are a great bunch of kids and they love playing the game. They make mistakes, but they’re gonna play seven innings. “You have to give Skyline credit. ... They beat us, except on the scoreboard.”

The Hawks (9-10) led 2-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning but immediately shot themselves in the foot allowing the first two runners to reach base on errors.

With pinch runner Tyler Murphy on second and Viands on first, Tim Spore slapped an infield single to the hole at short to load the bases. After a strikeout, Wood’s Brandon Sinecoff hit a sharp grounder to Skyline first baseman Joe Comstock who was going to come home for the force, but when he didn’t field it cleanly had to take the out at first, allowing Murphy to score the tying run.

That set the stage for Lockhart. With two outs and the winning run just 90 feet away, Lockhart stepped up and fouled off a couple pitches before he hit a ground ball towards the hole between first and second.

Comstock ranged far to his right to make a great play for what appeared was going to be the last out of the inning. But when he turned to throw to first no one was covering and it became a footrace that Lockhart won, sending the Colonels into the semifinals.

“I was running for the seniors. I had to get down there, no doubt about it,” Lockhart said. “It’s crazy. The past couple games we’ve been down a lot, we just come back — that’s what we are, what we do. Everyone contributed to this. It’s not just my hit.”

For Skyline pitcher Jon King, it was a bitter loss. The senior went the distance allowing just three runs, all unearned, scattering nine hits, striking out nine and walking none.

“That’s a heartbreaker right there,” Skyline coach Nick Sborz said. “I really feel for our seniors — they absolutely played their butts off. Jon King, that’s the best performance I’ve ever seen from him and he had an outstanding game.”

“They hit the ball in some tough places to field it, we couldn’t make a play. That’s the way baseball is, and that’s the game. We make some plays in the seventh, it’s a different game.”

The Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on a Ryan Settle sacrifice fly that plated Nate White. They tacked on an unearned run in the sixth when Luke Pingley shot a clutch two-out single to right, scoring Rodney Custer to make it 2-0 and push the Colonels on the brink of elimination.

James Wood (13-6) cut into the lead in its half of the sixth. Danny Cooper led off with a single and moved to second one out later on another Hawks error. Dustin Russell singled to make it 2-1, and the Colonels were in great shape to add on more, but King struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.

The Colonels outhit Skyline 9-7 but got four of those over the last two innings. Spore led Wood at the plate picking up three hits while Cooper and Russell added two each. Keaton Neeb and Custer each had to hits to led the Hawks.

“This was a total team effort,” Mounts said. “You get to this point, everybody knows if you lose you’re done, one and out. We’ve got a great team in Sherando on Tuesday, and they’re on a roll. We’ve got to enjoy this tonight and then get ready for Sherando.”