MOBILE, Alabama —Versatility. The Toros won the slugfest in Game 1 and then won the pitchers' duel in the nightcap to sweep the Rams at Faith Academy 9-3 and 2-0 Friday in the second round of the Class 5A state baseball playoffs.

Heith Brown and Jesse McCord shouldered the complete-game pitching burdens in that order for the 2X-defending state champs and utilized the offense given to them. Both teams committed errors, but the Toros minimized theirs and cashed in on the Ram's.

"Game one we hit it, pitched it well, played great defense the whole day. Game two, it was Jesse, Jesse, Jesse," said SFHS head coach Tommy Walker.

"I'm just so pleased with our guys. To lose seven guys (to graduation) off back-to-back (championships), nobody expected us to be where we are. I'm so proud of these guys for believing in themselves and most of all, really, for putting in the work to get back here."

The Toros improved to 31-7 and advanced to the third round to host Russell County or Charles Henderson.

McCord struck out 11 in the one-hit victory and survived a couple of inconsequential errors as the sophomore right-hander improved to 9-1. He also had a double in Game 2 and an RBI double in Game 1. His fellow sophomore opponent Hunter Beard also threw a one-hitter but suffered a pair of run-scoring errors. The Rams threatened to score, but the Toro defense and McCord's arm came through for the shutout.

"That was two really, really good sophomore pitchers (McCord and Beard) on the mound tonight. We get one hit, they get one hit. We bunted well and forced them to make some bad throws and that's how we got our runs. Last week we bunted awful, worst ever. We worked on it and this week, we got it down and put pressure on (the Rams) them. Made it work."

Brown, the senior lefty, (7-1) scattered seven hits over seven innings of work and enjoyed an early 4-0 lead after one frame and 8-0 after three. The Rams scored in the fourth and fifth to avoid the shut out. The Toros

totaled 11 hits for Brown in his first complete game after a knee injury required a slow, gradual return to the mound. He went 6-2/3's in a round-one win over St. Paul's last week.

Matthew Harris scored the go-ahead run in Game 2 running for McCord in the fourth off a bunt by Shane English which led to a Ram error.

Times for the Toros third round series had not been set at this posting.