DURHAM — Though the Person baseball team didn’t come away from Thursday evening’s Piedmont Athletic Conference game against Northern Durham with a victory, the Rockets had to be feeling a whole lot better about themselves after falling just short to the Knights, 4-3, in an entertaining game at the Northern High School Field.

Coming off Tuesday’s ugly 10-1 loss to East Chapel Hill, where the Rockets committed eight errors and allowed five unearned runs, Person’s intensity level was several degrees higher for Thursday’s contest.

Despite making good contact with the ball on several occasions, the Rockets were actually held without a hit and trailing 3-0 through five innings on Thursday before rallying for two runs in the top of the sixth.

Jeremy Peed got Person’s first hit (a pop double that fell just out of the reach of the Northern left fielder) and the Rockets proceeded to load the bases.

Craig Reid came to the bat and promptly singled sharply to right, bringing home two runs and making it a 3-2 game. Reid had lined out to second base with a runner in scoring position earlier in the game.

“The kids showed a lot of fight. That was a concern I had after the East Chapel Hill game,” said Person head coach Steve Evans, who was not happy after Tuesday’s performance. “We got down but we battled back and played hard the whole game. That’s the characteristic we want to have here.

“Over the years, people have said we’re a scrappy team. We want to keep that reputation,” he added.

After allowing an unearned run in the sixth, Person threatened to tie it in the seventh. A double by Cody Ellis, a single by Trey Davis, and a run-scoring hit off the bat of Stephen Wright brought the Rockets within one at 4-3 with two out and two runners on.

But Knight starter Tyler Robinson struck out Peed to end the threat and ice the win.

Even though his team ended up with just five hits, Evans thought his squad demonstrated better patience at the plate.

“We hit the ball hard several times tonight but right at people,” he said. “I thought we were a little snake-bit there, but it’s the nature of the game. Overall our approach at the plate was a lot better.”

Jeremy Peed (five hits, five strikeouts, three walks) started and went all six innings in suffering the loss for Person. Aside from two long solo home runs — a blast to left-center by Justin Crabtree in the fourth inning and a shot over the centerfield fence by Chad Walcott in the fourth — Peed, now 2-1 as a starter, gave a solid effort.

“He made two mistakes. Overall, he pitched a whale of a game,” said Evans.

Northern scored its first run in the third when Jack O’Rourke tripled with two outs and came in on Travis Horn’s double.

Owning a three-run lead and on the verge of breaking the game open in the fifth with the bases full and one out, the Knights’ Bryon Bass smashed a hard grounder to Wright at second, and the Rocket infielder combined with shortstop Ricky Crabtree to turn a huge double play.

It was a real momentum-changer, as the Rockets rallied to score three times in their final two at-bats and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the seventh.

The Knights’ got an important insurance run in the sixth, when Justin Crabtree opened with a single and eventually scored on a throwing error.

Robinson improved to 2-0 while going the distance for Northern, and also gave up five hits, fanned three and walked two. Northern upped its season record to 4-3 (2-1 in the PAC-6), while Person fell to 2-2 in conference play.

The Rockets, now 7-2 overall after defeating South Granville in a non-conference clash Friday, host Riverside on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Rocket Park.