Pillow Academy's baseball season came to a familiar and disappointing end Friday.
For the third straight year, the Mustangs were swept out of the first round of the state playoffs in two games after losing 9-3 to Parklane at Pillow's Utroska Field.
The North AAA champion Mustangs end their season at 22-6, while Parklane (24-9) advances to the State AAA Division I championship series to face Jackson Prep.
Pillow, which hasn't advanced out of the first round of the playoffs since 2000, lost the first game of the best-of-three series 8-4 Tuesday in McComb. The Pioneers are in the finals for the first time since 2005, when they lost to Prep.
"We beat a really good team to get back to the championship series, and it was a great team effort," said Parklane coach Ken Jackson, who has won two state championships with the Pioneers (2000 and 2001). "I think our non-conference schedule helped get us to this point. Outside of conference play, I don't think we played a team that didn't make the playoffs."
"Obviously, this is a disappointing ending for us, especially for a great group of seniors," PA coach Bart Jenkins said. "We won the overall North title which hadn't been done in a while at Pillow, so there's still plenty to be proud of even though it's hard to see that now."
Pillow led Parklane 3-2 after two innings but had a hard time against sophomore pitcher Shelby Johnson after that. Johnson (6-1) gave up a lead-off single in the first inning to Michael Gant, and clean-up hitter Tyler Cannon later made Johnson pay for it with a two-run homer to left field.
Cannon's seventh homer of the season tied the game at 2-all. Parklane senior Eric Boyd had a two-run homer over the center-field fence in the top of the first with the wind blowing straight out.
In the bottom of the second, the Mustangs got three straight two-out singles to go up 3-2. Gant, who was 3-for-3 on the day with a walk, brought in the go-ahead run with a single. Sam Rustom started things with a hit, followed by Jay Mitchell.
Pillow managed just three hits off Johnson over the next four innings. Johnson worked six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out two and walking two.
"The key for us was the performance of Shelby Johnson. The youngster got off to a shaky start on the road but really responded well and competed hard out there for us," Jackson said.
Parklane had eight hits against Mitchell, who went the distance while striking out seven and walking two. The right-handed senior was hurt by a one-out error in the fourth that opened the door for a four-run inning. After a walk to Justin Leggett, Josh Smith reached base on an infield error. Kyle Adams and Boyd followed with back-to-back RBI singles.
Russ Brown completed the scoring in the fourth with a two-run single that put Parklane up 8-3.
Mitchell, an East Central Mississippi Community College signee, closed out his prep career with two strong final innings, retiring six straight batters, including three strikeouts.
"Jay really sucked it up and went out strong," Jenkins said. "I am proud of all our seniors. They played hard."
Boyd, who pitched a complete game Tuesday, relieved Johnson on the mound in the seventh to retire three straight batters to end the game. Boyd finished 2-for-4 at the plate Friday with four RBIs.
Adams had two hits, including a double. Russ Brown drove in a pair of runs and had two hits, giving him five total in the two games against Pillow.
Mitchell had two hits for the Mustangs.
