MARSHALL, Texas - Pleasant Grove won Game 2, 11-6, and Game 3, 6-2, over Spring Hill in a Class 4A-II regional quarterfinal, best-of-three playoff baseball series at Maverick Field on Saturday.
The Hawks came back to win the series after dropping Game 1, 8-0, on Thursday.
"I am proud of our team and our assistant coaches," Pleasant Grove head coach Riley Fincher said. "Our assistant coaches work really hard and don't get credit for it. I am so proud of our players and the way they fought. I can't say enough about our fans, parents, faculty, community and students. I am proud of everyone.
"We wanted to come out and fight in Game 3. After being tired and coming back, I can't say enough about our clutch hitting and our pitchers. We put pitchers in big situations coming into the game. We got key strikeouts and key outs. There were guys who did great, struggled and then were great again today. It is a complete team. Our guys are all in for each other, and it's awesome."
The Hawks (29-8) will take on Melissa in the Class 4A-II regional semifinals this week.
Game 3
Pleasant Grove 6, Spring Hill 2
The Hawks' Nathan Hutcheson pitched in relief, earned the win, tossed three frames, gave up no runs on no hits, struck out four and did not issue a free pass.
JM Long blazed a double to left center, and two runs scored to give Pleasant Grove a 2-0 lead in the top of the third. Cason Head, who drew a walk, and Galvan, who had singled past the shortstop, came around to score.
Marshall Lipsey's RBI single to left and Easton Ballard's RBI double to deep left field knotted the score at 2-all in the Panthers' half of the third inning.
Anderson doubled to lead off the fourth, moved up to third on Traveler Couch's sacrifice bunt and scored on Brock Bearden's fielder's choice as the Hawks grabbed a 3-2 lead.
Long walloped a triple down the right-field line and scored on a wild pitch to give Pleasant Grove an insurance run in the sixth, bringing the score to 4-2.
Galvan, Clark, Long and Murphy each hit consecutive singles in the seventh with Murphy batting in a pair of runs to give the Hawks a 6-2 advantage.
Pleasant Grove totaled 10 hits, while the Panthers had just three. The Hawks had no errors in the field, and Spring Hill had one.
Game 2
Pleasant Grove 11, Spring Hill 6
Starting Pleasant Grove pitcher Anderson tossed two innings, struck out three, walked three and allowed three runs on three hits. Reliever Blake Jennings got the win, threw 3 2-3 innings, allowed two runs on three hits, struck out four and walked two.
The Panthers' starter, Alex Brown, threw 1 2-3 innings, allowed four runs on three hits and walked two in a no-decision.
Couch ripped a double to deep left center to score Brenton Clark and Alex Murphy, each who walked, to give the Hawks a 6-5 lead in the fifth frame.
Pleasant Grove put up five insurance runs in the sixth to take an 11-5 edge. During the barrage, Hayden Koller singled, Clark popped in an RBI double to center, Anderson looped in an RBI single to left center and Couch shot a laser RBI single to left.
Pleasant Grove put up four runs in the second on four hits to take a 4-3 lead into the third. Anderson walked, and courtesy runner Reid Bingham came in to run for him. Couch had an infield single, and Bingham scored on a Panther throwing error to make it 3-1. Brock Bearden sent a worm-burner up the middle to bring in Couch and made it a 3-2 game. Hayden Koller singled to left to put runners on the corners with two outs. Koller stole second. Clark smacked a 2-run double to left center to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead.
Colin Martin crushed a 2-run homer to right center to give Spring Hill (25-10) a 5-4 lead in the fifth.