Hendersonville junior shortstop Brett Coker fields a throw as Station Camp's Grant Jones attempts to steal second base during Monday's game.(Photo: Chris Brooks / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)

It worked, and the Commando right-hander produced arguably his best start of the season, pitching 6 2/3 innings and collecting a season-high eight strikeouts. All of that came after a first inning where Hansen gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs.

“I didn’t feel comfortable on the mound, Hansen said. “After the first inning, I went out to the bullpen mound and restarted again.”

However, the process that got him to the seventh inning impressed head coach Mike Hendrix – one showing a glimpse of potential for not just Hansen, but the entire Commando squad as well.

“He got better as the game went on,” Hendrix said. “He bulldogged it a little bit. He hadn’t been bulldogging (this season), but he got after it and got a little bit more guts into it.”

Hansen added, “My past couple of starts haven’t been too well. (Monday) felt 10 times better.”

With just two seniors on the roster – pitchers Andrew Dorris and Matt Nicoll – the Commandos are relying more on those guts and less on experience this season. So far, it’s mainly worked, as Hendersonville is 8-4 overall and 1-1 in District 9-AAA play.

However, the next month of the season is more about the endgame and less about individual victories.

Hendersonville sophomore pitcher Cameron Hansen struck out a season-high eight batters in Monday's 5-2 victory at Station Camp. (Photo: Chris Brooks / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)

“We’re playing for May 5,” Hendrix said. “I’m playing to get our club ready for the first round of the district tournament. We’re going out to try and beat everybody we can, but I’m trying to get my pitching lined up and get everybody going.”

The Commandos average 4.6 runs per game, a figure less than where Hendrix would like to see it.

“All year, we’ve struggled to score runs,” Hendrix said. “Whether it’s because you’ve got sophomores and freshmen playing or whatever, that could be it. We’ve got to swing it better.”

Hendersonville has two more District 9-AAA games this week – at Mt. Juliet on Tuesday and at home against Lebanon on Wednesday. Next week, the Commandos begin games against teams in the district’s North Division, where they can make up a lot of ground in a hurry. Winning the division means hosting one-half of the district tournament bracket, but it will likely come down to two games against Beech on April 25 and 26 to determine which team will host.

Hendrix hopes to do so regardless of the lineup.

“Right now, it’s the hot hand,” Hendrix said. “We’ve had three or four (designated hitters) and three or four first basemen.”

Hendersonville’s hopes rest on those hot hands – and not needing to hit the reset button again.

Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or 615-575-7118 and on Twitter @CBrooksTN.