Photo by Scott Butler.
Homewood High School Baseball
Homewood High School Patriot baseball team
The Homewood Patriots had a long wait to finally finish off their first-round playoffs series in the AHSAA baseball tournament, but they did the job Tuesday night.
The Class 6A seventh-ranked Patriots built a lead then held off host Pell City 6-5 to win game three of the best-of-three series.
The Patriots (26-8) led 6-2 after the fourth inning, but the Panthers came back to score two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh before relief pitcher Brent Moore shut the door with a pair of groundouts.
Pats starting pitcher William Gibbons got the win and also was 3-for-4 at bat and scored a pair of runs.
It's a shorter turnaround than usual. The series was scheduled for Friday-Saturday, but rain pushed it out. The Pats will visit Briarwood Christian in the second round. A doubleheader is set for Friday with first pitch at 5 p.m. A third game, if necessary, would be Saturday.