It all came down to one pitch when James Bowie and Maud collided in Game 1 of their Class 2A baseball quarterfinal series Thursday night at Texas High's Tiger Field.
The score was 4-all and James Bowie was batting with two outs, the baseball loaded, and a 3-2 count on batter Tyler Crabtree.
Ball four. Brandon Obenoskey scored the winning run in a 5-4 Pirate victory over the Cardinals.
James Bowie closed out the best-of-three series with a 5-1 win Friday, winning the series 2-0. It was the Pirates' fourth win over Maud this season, including two in the District 17-2A regular season.
James Bowie expanded its lead to 4-1 before the Cardinals fought back and tied the game at 4-4 with a three-run fifth inning.
Payton Windham had a run-scoring triple and Cade Townsend knocked in a run for Maud in the frame.
"I was pleased by the way we fought back and tied things," said Cards coach Joel Windham. "We certainly had our chances, but we just came up short."
Pirate ace Evan Barron went the distance to pick up the win.
"He was throwing hard, just like he always does," coach Windham said. "He struck out a lot of our batters."
Townsend was the losing pitcher, also going the distance.