By Stan Caldwell/Sports Writer

POPLARVILLE — When a high school baseball playoff series reaches a deciding third game, pitching can be a roll of the dice.

Tuesday night in Game 3 of the Class 4A quarterfinals, it was Poplarville that rolled a natural seven while Greene County came up snake-eyes.

The Hornets got a gritty performance on the mound from junior left-hander Braxton Sones, and he was backed by an opportunistic offense in a 13-5 victory over the Wildcats at Hornet Field.

Poplarville (26-10) advanced to the South State finals against defending 4A state champion West Lauderdale, beginning Friday at Collinsville. Greene County finished its season 23-9.

“It’s just been a lot of hard work that we’ve put in, and we’re seeing the fruits of our labor,” said Hornet head coach Ashley Graeter. “The Lord’s blessed with some fruit, so we’re going to take it day-by-day and get back at it.”

Sones pitched into the seventh inning, which was remarkable considering the way he started the game. Early on, it looked like he might not get out of the first inning, never mind nearly go the distance.

The first 10 pitches Sones threw were out of the strike zone, resulting in a pair of leadoff walks, and both runners came around to score.

Junior Zaire Moody and junior Eli Herring each drew four-pitch walks, then freshman Cam Pipkins went the other way to smack a run-scoring double into the gap in left-centerfield, with Herring moving to third. The second run came in on a groundout up the middle.

But Pipkins was tagged out at the plate on a hot grounder to first, and a flyout ended the inning. By then, Graeter had already gotten the Hornet bullpen up and moving, but it would prove unnecessary, until the issue was long decided.

“I just had to start finding the zone, get ahead in the count and compete,” said Sones. “Competing is the main thing you need to do on the mound.

“I took a deep breath and reset. I knew if I could hold them to just two runs, we knew our offense is good enough to come back from that.”

With his top two pitchers burnt through the first two games, Wildcat head coach Scott Bray went with junior right-hander Noad McLeod to start, and he was OK in the first inning, and even got another run to work with in the top of the second.

Junior Jaxon Denmark drew a one-out walk, then was forced out on a slow roller to first off the bat of senior Brody Jones, who stole second and scored on a double in the gap in right-centerfield by junior Zaire Moody.

But McLeod ran into trouble in the bottom of the second, as control issues began to rise for Greene County. The Hornets scored four runs on just one hit in the second to take a lead they would never relinquish.

A hit batter led off the inning, a single by junior Aiden Smith and back-to-back hit batters produced the first run for Poplarville.

Junior Ty Keys, batting in the leadoff spot, grounded to first, and the Wildcats got the force-out at the plate, but the throw to first for the double-play attempt sailed over first base and rolled all the way into the rightfield corner.

Two runs scored, and Keys wound up at third, which made for an easy run on a sacrifice fly from junior Trip Jones. McLeod (1-2) finished the inning, but he wasn’t able to get an out in the third, as Poplarville went wild in the bottom of the third.

But Greene County still tied the game in the top of the third, when Pipkins reached on an error, went all the way to third on a botched pickoff, and scored on a wild pitch before Sones finished the next at-bat.

However, Sones pitched around a two-out infield single, and when he returned to the mound for the fourth inning, he had a nine-run lead.

“He competed hard tonight,” said Graeter. “He’s a kid that since his freshman year, whether he’s in the weight room or on the grass here, he gets after it.

“He got an opportunity this year to get more playing time, and he’s excelled. He answered the bell.”

Poplarville sent 14 batters to the plate in the third inning, scoring nine runs on just three hits, but five walks, two costly errors and two hit-batters. In all, Greene County issued 10 walks and four hit-batters.

“I was proud of the guys that threw tonight, but we did run out of pitching,” said Bray, who finished his first season after returning to the program he brought to prominence in the 2000s. “We gave up nine runs in one inning. If we put up a zero in hat spot, we win 5-4.

“But you’ve got to give credit to Poplarville. They’re a good baseball team, well-coached. We wish them well moving forward.”

As was the case in the second, the Hornets loaded the bases on two walks, a single and a run-scoring hit-batter. An error at the plate cost the Wildcats a force-out at home, and sophomore Camden McCurdy, in the 9-hole, drove in two runs with a bloop single into shallow rightfield.

“We’ve been preaching for about a month and a half, when things weren’t going well,” said Graeter. “We started preaching to just grind out at-bats, try to move the baseball when it’s tough pitches, and work to get a pitch to drive.

“They’re buying in to the two-strike approach, being selfless, playing for the guy that’s standing on deck behind them. It’s just a team effort.”

Backed by the big lead, Sones settled in. He surrender a leadoff home run to McLeod in the fifth, and he had traffic on the bases in every inning, but two double plays erased baserunners in the fifth and sixth innings.

“The breaking ball was working, and the two seam was helping me avoid barrels and only allow soft contact,” said Sones. “It was great having a big lead. Being able to be comfortable on the mound allowed me to just go with the flow.”

Sones (3-0) came out with two out and two on in the seventh, after throwing 121 pitches. He allowed five runs on seven hits, struck out five and walked seven. Freshman Dawson Amacker allowed a walk, but finished with a called third strike.

“Going into the fourth inning, I told my coaches, ‘this is his game,’” said Graeter. “Unfortunately, he ran out of pitches to get that last out.

“But he works so darn hard. He deserves this success.”

Besides McLeod’s homer, the bright spot for Greene County was Moody, who had two doubles and a single for the Wildcats.

No team in Mississippi has won more state titles than West Lauderdale, a mountain the Hornets will have to climb in the program’s first South State series in decades. Last year’s championship was the Knights’ 16th, and they reached the state finals the two previous seasons.

“They’re a program that we’re aspiring to be as far as consistency,” said Graeter. “They’re in the back end of the playoffs every year. They’re a great opponent. They’re coached well, and we know they have great players. We just have to show up and get after it.”