By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GAUTIER — Last season, the Gautier High baseball team qualified for the state playoffs for the first time ever in the history of the program.

This year, after a big come from behind win on Wednesday night, the Gators not only have their sights set squarely on a return to the postseason but are aiming for home field advantage in the opening round for the first time ever as well.

Gautier stormed back from a 5-0 deficit mid-way through the game with seven unanswered runs over its final three at bats to pull out an improbable 7-5 win over perennial state power East Central in Region 4-5A play.

Gator hitter Ian McInnis smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth stanza to complete the comeback and seal the exciting win.

The win broke a tie for the third spot in the region race between the two teams and for the moment pushes the Gators into sole possession of that rung in the standings at 4-3 and the Hornets drop to 3-4. Gautier stands just one game behind second place Wayne County after the War Eagles fell on the road to Vancleave Wednesday night as well to fall to 5-2.

“It was a big win for sure,” Gautier head coach Deon Ulmer said. “We made some mistakes early but that’s part of the game. I’m proud of how our guys dug in and stuck together and fought as a family. I saw a family of brothers fighting together every pitch, win lose or draw I can live with the resiliency our guys displayed.”

Still trailing 5-3 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Gators loaded the bases up with no outs without the aid of. hit. Sebastian Gonzalez then got plunked with a pitch to make it 5-4, but the Hornets then turned a double play to move on the verge of getting out of the jam.

But McInnis would have none of that. The junior calmly strolled to the plate and smacked the first pitch he saw from ECHS relief pitcher Anthony Bonfiglio over the left field fence for his first career home run.

Early on, coming off a sweep of Stone last week, it looked as if the Hornets were on their way to a fourth straight region win as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead after just three frames.

Grant Vick’s two-run double was the key hit in a three run first inning, while Matthews Combs and Pacey Baria each drove in a run in the third stanza to make it 5-0.

Gautier, though, began its comeback effort with a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Yaxiel Perez in the bottom of the fourth followed by a two-run single from Gonzalez in the next inning setting the stage for the climactic sixth stanza and the late game heroics by McInnis

McInnis had four RBIs and Gonzalez two to pace GHS offensively, and fredrick nicholson had a double in the winning effort.

Herion Figueroa started and slung six stanzas on the hill to pick up a win, and after the big blow by McInnis Gonzalez came on and earned a save with a scoreless seventh.

Vick had two hits and those two RBIS and Baria two RBIs for ECHS.

Bonfiglio, the fourth of four Hornet hurlers, took the loss.

The two teams meet again Friday in Hurley and then back in Gautier Saturday afternoon to wrap up the three game series as the region race currently sits at the halfway point.

“It would be a first in school history,” Ulmer said, of possibly getting homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs. “We haven’t talked about it in that fashion, but we do talk about each series and what it means in regards to the playoff picture as a whole. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played, so we just take it one game at a time.”