WARNER ROBINS -- Having lost its opening game in the Little League Southeastern Regional tournament, North Carolina could ill afford another loss heading into Saturday night’s second-day matchup against Tennessee.

North Carolina made a point early and ensured that its early message stood up, topping Tennessee 5-3 after batting around and scoring four runs in the bottom half of the first inning. North Carolina’s victory came a night after being on the losing end of a wild 14-11 loss to Alabama.

“This was our shot to pick up a little bit of momentum. The gas was let out of us with (Friday’s) loss to Alabama,” North Carolina manager Jeff Henson said. “This was a chance to get our kids believing they are back in the race.”

Perhaps with Monday’s game against Georgia in mind, Henson pulled starting pitcher Holton Ahlers with two outs in the third inning after he had allowed no runs and just one hit.

“He is our No. 1, but I wanted to save him for Georgia,” Henson said. “They’re going to be a lot to deal with.”

North Carolina’s early 4-0 cushion made things easy for Ahlers, who dominated the Tennessee batting order early on, inducing numerous groundball outs.

North Carolina scored its first run on a fielding error with the bases loaded, plating Coleman Sawyer. A single by Holton Clifton made it 2-0 with a fielder’s choice off the bat of Hunter Christopher followed by a passed ball which increased the North Carolina lead to 4-0.

Tennessee pitcher Terron Smith and two other relievers, Ty Sutley and CJ Laws, settled things down, combining to give up just one run on five hits during the final five innings.

“We left so many guys on base after that,” Henson said. “That’s not going to get it at this level. We have got to do a better job at that.”

The pitching, and North Carolina stranding a total of eight runners, gave Tennessee a shot at a comeback. Laws drove in Smith on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Tennessee drew closer in the fifth, starting with a Chase Waller triple. Sutley drove him in one hitter later, with Sutley later scoring on an infield hit. That, however, is as close as Tennessee was able to draw, with North Carolina reliever Phillip Sanderson closing out the final inning and a third to preserve the win.

“If we would have lost, we wouldn’t be going to the semifinals,” Ahlers said.