Gifford’s Ice Cream got strong pitching and timely hitting to pull out an exciting 5-4 victory over Auburn Firefighters in Auburn Suburban Little League major division baseball.

Gifford’s got a great start from Nick Hathaway, who struck out nine over 4 1/3 innings and gave up only one hit. Hathaway also crushed a wall-ball triple which plated a crucial run.

Hathaway was relieved by Austin Brown, who was able to keep the Firefighters at bay in the fifth and sixth for the save.

Equally impressive on the mound were AFF’s Tyler Libbey and Christian Belliveau, who only allowed 3 hits themselves. Belliveau was the game’s only repeat hitter, smacking a single and a double.