Pleasant Grove and Gilmer coaches were in their bag of tricks Thursday night at Hawk Field.

The Hawks Ryan Galvan and Gilmer’s Derrick McCellon were locked up in a scoreless pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the sixth. That’s when Pleasant Grove manufactured a run by pressuring the Buckeyes into their only error of the game, resulting in a 4-0 win for the Hawks.
 

Pleasant Grove (23-4) advances in the Region II-4A playoffs to the area round, where it will face Brownsboro or Farmersville.
 

Catcher Keaton Russo ignited the Hawks’ four-run sixth with a double. Seth Hopkins was hit by a pitch, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. McCellon struck out the next batter, but he reached safely with the ball bounced past the catcher.

Hawks’ baserunning was difference against Gilmer
 

The bases were now loaded, and Hopkins intentionally raced off second and fell down, drawing a throw from the catcher. That had Russo sprinting home, and a throwing error allowed him to score easily. Galvan made it 3-0 with a single to right, and pinch-runner Brayden Solida scored the final run on a wild pitch.
 

“You’ve definitely have to tip your hat to the Gilmer pitcher (McCellon),” said Pleasant Grove coach Riley Fincher. “I can’t say enough about our kids. They know the whole deal is to get on base and make something happen. We don’t look at it as taking chances. We look at it as playing the game the way we want to play it, and that’s attack, attack, attack. “I tell our guys the first round of the playoffs is always the toughest. I’m just so thrilled the way the community showed up tonight. It was a fun atmosphere to play in, and I’m thankful and humbled.”
 

Nick Voyles relieved Galvan in the sixth and got the pitching win. Marshall Oubre pitched the seventh for the Hawks.
 

Fincher was also elated with the effort of third baseman Cole Blain, who was filling in for junior Ben Harmon. Blain made a spectacular diving catch in the seventh, and another earlier that resulted in a Gilmer doubleplay.