FROM STAFF REPORTS

PELHAM – Ninth-ranked Paul Bryant High School ended the No. 3 Pelham Panthers’ baseball season for the second-straight year with a sweep in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs Friday.

The two were locked in a pitchers’ duel through most of the game, but Bryant managed to put up a run on Pelham sophomore Trae Santos in both the fifth and sixth innings of game one. Bryant added two more in the seventh. Alvin Hines knocked in two runs for Pelham in the bottom of the seventh, but the Panthers were unable to drive in runners in scoring position as the game ended with a 4-2 loss.

Bryant collected 14 hits in the second game to produce 13 runs, including a 4-for-4 performance by Forrest Holifield, in a 13-3 win to clinch the series.

J.R. Krebs also had four hits for Bryant, including two home runs and six RBIs.

Pelham sprinkled a run each in the third, fourth and fifth inning with the help of RBIs by Wes Rich and Michael Bishop, who also had a solo home run.

Rich took the loss, allowing five runs off nine hits in four innings.

Pelham finishes the season 25-8