The Pike Patriots split two games with the Hooper Colts in Friday’s first round of the AISA Class 3A state playoffs.

The Patriots (26-13) scored the winning run in the sixth inning of game one to win 3-2 before falling to the Colts in game two, 3-2.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” said Patriots head coach Allen Ponder. “We didn’t play well in game one, and we were very fortunate to come out of game one. We came out inconsistent, and when your not consistent no matter who you play, you always have the opportunity to get beat.”

Sophomore Reed Jinright took the ball as game one’s starter for the Patriots. The sophomore tallied nine strikeouts in his six innings of work. He allowed two runs on five hits.

“He is good enough to get us out of a bad situation,” Ponder said. “He did that again today. I am proud of his effort, but we still need to work on getting him deeper into games.”

Both teams went scoreless in the game’s first two innings. Hooper scored in the third inning to go up 1-0.

The Patriots answered in their half of the inning when they scored two runs on two hits by Jinright and Hunter Jones, whose double scored Hayes Lee and Jinright.

The Colts (8-11) evened the score in the top of the fourth on a wild pitch.

Still tied in the bottom the sixth, Wood Jinright reached on an error by the shortstop and moved to second after a failed pick-off attempt. A sacrifice bunt by Murphy Renfroe moved Jinright to third, and Kiegan Simmons reached when a pitch hit him. Tyler Hussy drove in the winning run on a hit to the shortstop.

Hunter Jones came into pitch and after allowing the tying run on first base, a ground ball double play ended the game.

Reed Jinright and Murphy Renfroe each had two hits for the Patriots. Jones picked up one hit and two runs batted in.

The pitching duel carried over into game two, but this time Hooper edged the Patriots 3-2.

“We had control of the game, and we made mistakes and let them right back in the game,” Ponder said. “We continued mistakes and let them take the lead and we couldn’t get it back.”

Jarrett Jordan started game two for the Patriots and lasted 4.3 innings while allowing three earned runs.

The Patriots scored the first runs of game two in the fourth inning when they got RBI singles by Wood Jinright, who scored Reed Johnson and Renfroe, scoring Adam Grice to give the Patriot a 2-0 lead.

The Colts battled back and took the lead in the fifth inning when they scored two runs on three hits.

The Colts pitching staff slammed the door in the sixth, extending the series to game three.

The teams will play at 1 p.m. today at Pike in the deciding game of the series.