Pillow Academy is one win away from advancing to the State AAAA Division II semifinals.
The Mustangs will have two shots, if needed, on Thursday for that victory after defeating Lamar School 10-6 Tuesday at PA’s Louis Coleman Field in the first game of the best-of-three series.
The Mustangs were in this same situation last year against Oak Forest but dropped a pair on the road.
“We’ve got to close it out this time. I think our kids learned from last year,” Pillow coach Jud Thigpen said.
The Mustangs (16-12) used a big seven-run fourth inning Tuesday to get past the Raiders (19-11).
In the fourth, Pillow had six hits, including a pair of doubles, sending 12 batters to the plate while also taking advantage of two errors from the Raiders.
Pillow finished with six unearned runs off five errors by Lamar.
“Good teams always capitalize on mistakes like that, but we haven’t always done that this year. I was glad to see us make them pay like that,” said Thigpen.
Senior left-handed ace Garrett Brown (10-3) picked up the win on the mound. He worked six innings, allowing six runs, three earned, on nine hits while walking one and striking out two.
“Garrett has been so good for us all year, but he didn’t have his best stuff today. But he hung in there, and we found a way to win it anyway,” Thigpen said.
Brown threw 107 pitches, with 66 going for strikes.
Senior right-hander Triston Burden closed things out on the hill with a three-up, three-down outing in the seventh.
Adie Goodman (8-3) went the distance for Lamar. He had four strikeouts and one walk.
Led by junior Parker Bariola’s 4-for-4 performance, the Mustangs pounded out 14 hits, including four doubles. Bariola had a double and drove in three runs and scored twice.
Burden and Eli Burton and Jacob Garrard had two hits each, including a double. Burton and Garrard finished with three RBIs apiece.
Brown had two hits.
“We swung the bats really well all up and down the lineup,” Thigpen said. “When we had runners in scoring position, we had guys step up most of the time.”
The PA batters will likely face hard-throwing senior Davis Harrison in Game 2. He is 5-0 with a 1.00 ERA and has 61 strikeouts in 42 innings pitched.
Thigpen said he will probably start Garrard (1-2) on Thursday.
The Pillow-Lamar winner advances to the semifinals next week to face the Magnolia Heights-Oak Forest winner. Oak Forest won the first game 9-6 on Tuesday.
