SPRING GARDEN – The Falkville Blue Devils awakened the sleeping giant known as the Spring Garden offense in the second game of their second round Class 2A baseball playoff series on Friday.

After falling to Falkville 7-1 in the first game, the Panthers pounded the Blue Devils 18-2 in five innings behind 14 hits, including two home runs from senior catcher Luke Welsh and a grand slam from junior center fielder Chaz Pope.

The decisive third game is set for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

It’s the second straight weekend the fourth-ranked Panthers (23-14) have been taken the distance. After losing its first game at Sulligent last weekend, Spring Garden rallied to take the next two.

The Panthers are hoping for a little more of that playoff deja vu on Saturday.

“I feel like (the second game) that’s how we should play,” said Welsh, who finished Game 2 going 3-for-5 with a two-run shot to left in the top of the third inning and a three-run blast left in the fifth. He also had a double and five RBIs.

“The past two weeks we’ve come in a little lax the first game. That’s not good. We’ve seen what can happen. We got it handed to us that first game (against Falkville). I think we knew it’s playoff time, do-or-die. We kind of lit a fire under our tails and knew we had to crank it up again.”

“You always want to be relaxed, but not to that extent,” said Pope, who went 3-for-3 with his grand slam in the top of the fifth. He also had a two-run double to left in the third, a single to left in the first, and was hit twice by pitches. “I’m glad we reeled it in the second game, got it going and came out with a win.”

The Panther bats provided plenty enough run support for Game 2 starter Landon Gowens. Gowens scattered a pair of runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

“It just takes a lot of pressure off of me when I ‘ve got a good lead,” Gowens said. “I was just hitting my spots and doing what I was supposed to.”

“We lost game one, and Landon did what he did last week. He shut them down,” Spring Garden coach Tony Benefield said. “He pitched well. He wasn’t quite as sharp as he was last week, but he was plenty good enough. Right now he’s in a zone. He’s very confident out there. He’s getting the job done.”

The Panthers were also getting the job done at the plate in Game 2. They scored single runs in the first two innings and put up a four-spot in the third to take a 6-0 lead. Falkville scored a run in the bottom of the third, but then the Panthers erupted for five runs in the fourth and seven in the fifth on Pope’s grand slam and Welsh’s three-run shot.

It was the first grand slam of Pope’s varsity career and Welsh’s 12th homer of the season.

Senior third baseman Weston Kirk was also 3-for-5 with a double for the Panthers. Freshman left fielder Chapel Pope posted a two-run single and two walks. Senior second baseman Ryley Kirk collected a hit, two walks and was hit by a pitch.

Designated hitter Grayden Guthrie, first baseman Jackson Maddox and right fielder Andrew Floyd each had a hit and a walk. Maddox’s hit was a double. Nine-hole batter Cam Welsh walked four times.

“All those guys know how to hit the ball,” Benefield said. “We’ve got a pretty good hitting lineup one through nine. When they’re on, they’re really on. They got on in the fourth and fifth innings. They just knocked the cover off the ball.”

First baseman Caden Burnett led the Blue Devils in Game 2 with a pair of hits. Left fielder Andrew Jones homered to right center in the fourth and walked in the second. Wyatt King singled to right in the third. He also suffered the loss.

In Friday’s first game, Falkville scored three runs in the top of the first on catcher Peyton Salle’s three-run blast to center off Panther starter Weston Kirk. The Blue Devils delivered three more runs in the third and one in the sixth to take a 7-0 lead.

Spring Garden’s bats were stymied by Blue Devil starter Colton Hooper. He retired 11 Panthers on pop outs and struck out three.

“The first game we weren’t patient at all,” Benefield said. “We had a lot of first-pitch swings, out front, pop ups, ground balls. Toward the end of that game we started barreling some balls up, but we were hitting them right at people. It was just one of those games. It was the same type of thing we had last week.”

“The first game we were a little undisciplined at the plate,” said Luke Welsh, who went 1-for-3. “We were all getting a little too extended I feel like, and honestly that hurt us. Toward the end of that game we started putting some hits together, but it wasn’t enough. We realized we had to get back to our basics.”

Third baseman Kenneth Petty was the only Panther with multiple hits. He went 3-for-3, but he injured his right wrist late in the game and did not play in Game 2. Weston Kirk had the only extra-base hit for the Panthers with his double to right in the fifth.

Sallee, Hooper and shortstop Dawson Fowler each had a pair of hits for Falkville. One of Hooper’s hits was a two-run double in the third.

Now the series comes down to Saturday’s result.

“This is a veteran team for the most part,” Luke Welsh said. “We’ve got six seniors and seven juniors. We’ve been in some big games in years past. We’ve been in some three-game series before. I think we might have the upper hand a little bit. We already had to face the adversity of a three-game series last week. I think we can pull it together. We’ve got two really good pitchers tomorrow (in Cam Welsh and Maddox).”