When the first ball cleared the fence, it was a letdown. The second, a pop-up that barely cleared the fence, caused concern.

The third home run Heidelberg Academy hit on Tuesday let Porters Chapel know it was in for a fight, and the fourth and final one sent a clear message — no matter who the Eagles throw, no matter how well they play, it might not be enough to see next week.

Heidelberg’s four home runs in Game 1 of its second-round MPSA Class A playoff series Tuesday sent the Rebels (27-3) to a 10-2 win. They’ll go for the sweep in Game 2 tonight at 7 at PCA (18-11) against an Eagles team that is suddenly struggling on every front.

“You hate to say you’re confident, but it’s hard not to when you beat another team’s number one,” Heidelberg coach Jim Fries said. “It’s a great win (in Game 1) for us. I’m not going to lie to anybody, and Porters Chapel has a good doggone ball team.”

If you go7 p.m. – Heidelberg (27-3) at Porters Chapel (18-11)The Eagles are reeling, though, after seeing the nearly unhittable Matt Cranfield take one on the chin in Game 1.

Cranfield, who hadn’t lost entering Game 1 and had only allowed one earned run all season, gave up all four home runs, 10 hits and seven earned runs. He also had two pickoff throws end in errors, two of the five errors PCA committed.

With Cranfield on the mound, the Eagles are 9-1 this season. When someone else pitches, they’re 9-10. In a loss to University Christian last week, their Nos. 2-5 pitchers all threw and combined to walk 10 batters.

Having Heidelberg break serve in the pitching matchup is a big problem for PCA, but not the only one. The Eagles managed just four hits in Game 1 and will now face another quality arm in Blake Denham. The right-hander is 10-0 with a 0.30 ERA this season.

PCA left three runners in scoring position while Game 1 was still close. To stay alive and send the series back to Heidelberg, PCA coach Randy Wright said that has to change.

Josh Hill”We’ve got our hands full. We’re going to have to see if we can hit with them,” Wright said. “We just can’t leave runners on base. When we get opportunities to score runs, we’ve got to do it.”

PCA catcher Josh Hill said the Eagles have to do more than that. To not only extend the series, but have a chance to come back and win it, he said they need a win as convincing as Heidelberg’s Game 1 victory to steal some of that confidence back.

“We’re going to have to hit and make plays. I don’t think we can pitch any better,” Hill said. “We’re going to have to jump on them and hurt their pride. We can’t hang in and play a ballgame with them. We’ve got to stomp them into the dirt.”