AUBURN, Alabama — The Fairhope Pirates and the Auburn Tigers battled through rain and cold conditions en route to a series split in the first two games of the 6A state baseball quarterfinals thanks to good timely hitting and some stellar plays defensively.

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The Pirates took game one 5-2 thanks to a stellar pitching performance by Junior Corey Childress who pitched a complete game over the hosting Tigers.

“His stuff wasn’t super today. He battled through some troubles early, I was just proud of how he got through it,” Pirate head coach Stu Fuller said. “He seemed to get stronger in the later innings and he has been our guy all year and it was a great effort on his part.”

With the Pirates already up 1-0 in the fourth they had their opportunity to add another run with Cole Woods on second base. Gabe Wagner came through for the Pirates with a timely RBI base hit platting the Pirates’ second run of the game.

The Tigers wasted no time as they tied the game in the next half inning when Brad Norman brought in a run with a base hit while Frank Wager brought in the second run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The sixth inning belonged to the Pirates when they scored two runs on a base hit by catcher Jerrod Hathcock. The Pirates scored again in the inning on a passed ball that scored Joey Wirtes.

With the weather getting worse in the second game the Pirates looked to be in control early when they hit two homeruns in the first inning by Cole Wainwright and Hathcock giving the Pirates the early 2-0 lead.

Just like in game one the Tigers answered very quickly and took control of the game in their next half inning. The Tigers scored three runs off four hits after sending eight batters to the plate.

“Our kids didn’t falter and they came back and scored some runs to get ahead,” Tigers head coach Matt Cimo said. “Our kids kept their composure and our pitchers gave us a chance while we made the plays we had to make.”

The Tigers added two more runs in the fourth giving them a three run lead that would last until the final few innings when the Pirates started to make a run of their own.

With the score 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh the Pirates had the tying run on second and the winning run on first with two outs. The Tigers however were able to retire Pirates hitter Wainwright giving them the win and surviving until the third and decisive game.

“We have been here before. We have to regroup and come back tomorrow and barrel up a few more balls,” Fuller said. “We just have to come out and take care of ourselves tomorrow.”

The third and final game of the series was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon but was postponed until Monday at 5 p.m. due to inclement weather.