By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

PASS CHRISTIAN — The Pass High Pirates (11-15) struck early, scoring six runs in the first inning on their way to a lopsided 12-1 win over Mendenhall (8-10) in the first round of the 4A playoffs on Friday. The win resulted in a series sweep for the Pirates, who shutout the Tigers (10-0) in Mendenhall on Thursday.

The Pirates did enough damage at the plate in the bottom of the first inning connecting for six hits to score six runs. Lead hitter Stephen Cole Tinsley got the Pirates going with a double and Skylar Summerville followed with a single.

Aiden Mitchell grounded out to second base to drive in the first score. Kayleb Munsch outran his grounder to shortstop and scored Summerville to give the Pirates the lead at 2-1 with one out.

Landen Necaise, Aiden Mitchell, Zachary Henderson would each add singles along with Tinsley who would get his second hit of the inning along with an RBI to close out the Pirates’ scoring in the first inning.

The bottom of the first inning would come to an end with a ground ball to shortstop with the out at first base with the bases loaded for the Pirates.

“We started clicking in the last two weeks swinging the bat,” said Pirates’ coach Ricky Smith. “It’s just carried into the playoffs, and it happened last night. We played really well up there. And hitting is contagious. It starts at the top of our order and it just kind of rolled through the night.”

The Pirates added another six runs in the third inning, capitalizing on four walks and Tinsley’s third hit of the night, a single, and a Mitchell single.

The Pirates were also solid on defense as well as Mitchell gave up only three hits in four innings. The Tigers scored their lone run in the top of the first inning, following an error and a walk. But from there, the Tigers couldn’t find much to scratch at.

“Aiden (Mitchell) struggled early with his command, and then he was able to figure it out as the game went along. He just continued to grind. He’s been that guy for us, our number two arm all year. He competed tonight. It wasn’t his best stuff, but he competed really well.”

Mitchell gave up two singles in the top of the second, but he faced three batters in each of the third and fourth innings to secure the win. Summerville came in the top of the fifth the close it out for the Pirates.

The Pirates will meet the winner of the Columbia-Lawrence County series next Friday. Columbia leads the series 1-0.