The late-inning magic continues for freshman Daniel Mengden and the Westside Wolves.

After hitting a walk-off home run against defending state champion Cy-Fair last week, Mengden got another walk-off hit, this time an RBI single in the eighth inning to help Westside come from behind and defeat Memorial 3-2 in the first game of their Region III-5A quarterfinal series Thursday night at Langham Creek High School.

Against Memorial reliever Steven Murray with the bases loaded, Mengden laced the first pitch to him into right field to score the winning run.

“I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” Mengden said. “I knew I needed a good pitch to hit, and I hit it good.”

The Wolves – who didn’t have a hit in the game until the seventh inning -- battled back from a 2-0 deficit against Mustang starter Michael Bentz, who had a no-hitter in 6 1/3 innings. But Westside pitcher Taylor Wall also was strong, going all eight innings and giving up two runs on five hits with three walks and 11 strikeouts.

“He gave up two runs, but he was pretty much lights out after that,” Westside head coach Emrick Jagneaux said. “I was just waiting for us to generate something.”

Bentz, who struck out seven Westside batters, gave up his first hit of the game to third baseman Brett Zieren, who singled to left field with one away in the seventh. Mengden then came up and hit a groundball to second baseman Nick Glanzman, who flipped it to shortstop Michael Ratterree to force out Zieren and start what was to be the game-ending double play. But Ratteree’s throw skipped past first and into the bullpen, putting Mengden at second base.

Then after another single by catcher Cory Maltz, Memorial coach Jeremy York pulled his starter in favor for Murray.

Westside (26-3) benefited from Murray’s early pitches; he walked the next two batters on eight pitches to bring home Mengden to make the score 2-1.

Then second baseman Freddy Villalobos came up and laced a hit to left-center field that scored Maltz to tie the game. Second baseman Micheal Falcone tried to win the game by trying to score from second as the throw home was away from Mustang catcher Michael Paul Cokinos, but he quickly grabbed the ball and threw to Murray at home plate to nail Falcone and send the game to extra innings.

“I told the kids that we were down, but not out,” Jagneaux said. “Let’s compete and see where this thing takes us. Our kids are hard-working individuals and it takes us a little time to get going. And tonight, it took us a while to get going, but I’ll take it.”

Memorial (27-4-1) got its runs in the second inning on three straight hits. A two-out double by first baseman Kyle Guest was followed by a RBI single by first baseman Nick Glanzman. Two batters later, outfielder Ben Sample hit a grounder to second that was enough to bring home Glanzman, as designated hitter Noel Adams was caught in a rundown between third and home to end the inning.

The win gives Westside a 1-0 lead in the series, which resumes at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Langham Creek.

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