SPANISH FORT, Alabama – Class 5A No. 1 Spanish Fort swept St. Paul’s 8-1, 4-3 in an AHSAA baseball state playoff series on Saturday and advanced to host No. 2 Faith Academy on Friday in the second round.

PHOTOS: Spanish Fort sweeps St. Paul's

The Toros (32-6), winners of the last three 5A state championsips, are 0-2 against Faith Academy this season. Faith Academy swept Gulf Shores in a playoff double header in Mobile on Saturday.

“It seems like it always comes down to us or Faith in the playoffs,” Spanish Fort head coach Brent Boyd said. “I think up to this point most people expected us to be here. But now all bets are off. Faith has a great team, and they are going to be ready to beat us. We have to mentally ready and physically ready to beat them.”

In the first game Ethan Walker (4-1) gave up just three hits and had two strikeouts in seven innings to pitch the Toros to an 8-1 win. Spanish Fort catcher Brian Lane was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two doubles. Reagan Eubanks was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Jesse McCord had two hits, two RBIs and a run, and Myles York and Rob Perteet had RBIs for the Toros.

“Brian has always been there from day one this year,” Boyd said of his catcher. “I expect nothing less from him. When the game is on the line, when we need a big hit I like having him up there.”

In the second game Matt Hall’s RBI double put the Toros up 4-3 in the top of the seventh and McCord (6-1) went the distance on the mound with eight strikeouts and three hits to get the win. Perteet had a two-RBI double in the first and an RBI single in the third.

“The first game we came out and did what we needed to do, took care of business,” Boyd said. “Overall I thought we played great defense. Ethan pitched a great game and then in Game 2 Jesse threw very well and kept us in the game. We didn’t hit as well as we wanted to, we weren’t as selective at the plate in the second game. But we fought through it and Matt Hall came up with a big hit at the end to win it.”