The Porters Chapel Eagles faced the possibility of a very long night, and an even longer offseason, if they weren’t on their game Thursday.

Matthew Warren sent them home happy, and in time for dinner.

The junior right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and needed just 68 pitches to finish a two-hit gem as PCA beat Heidelberg 4-1 to complete a sweep of its first-round MAIS Class A playoff series.

The game lasted just 1 hour and 25 minutes.

“That’s efficient,” PCA coach Jerry Bourne joked about Warren’s pitch count. “He knew the situation. Knew it was a big game. He was more than a great pitcher today. He was a great leader.”

Warren led PCA (15-10) into the second round for the ninth time in 10 seasons. PCA will be on the road Tuesday for the start of a best-of-three series against either Calvary Christian or Alpha Christian. Games 2 and, if necessary, 3 will be at PCA next Friday.

Calvary and Alpha are scheduled to play Games 2 and 3 of their first-round series today. Calvary won Game 1, 3-2.

“It feels great. I can’t lie to you. These guys came out and played today,” Bourne said. “We didn’t score a lot of runs but we put together a lot of great at-bats. We did a lot of things right.”

Warren did almost everything right.

He had six strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit until Austin Wilson hit a soft two-out liner into center field in the sixth inning. Tommy Fries followed with an RBI triple to the gap in right-center to bring in Heidelberg’s only run, but Warren retired the next batter and then set the Rebels down in order in the seventh.

Warren walked two batters and retired the side in order four times.

“I was throwing my curveball for strikes. When they hit it, it felt good knowing they were going to make plays behind me,” Warren said.

Warren’s teammates helped out by turning two double plays and staking him to a 4-0 lead after three innings. John Michael Harris went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two runs scored, while Kreuz Federick drove in two runs with a single in the first inning.

In the third, Colby Rushing led off with a double and scored on a single by Harris to make it 3-0. Warren followed with an RBI double of his own to bring in the Eagles’ final run.

Heidelberg pitcher Tyler Jones settled in after that. He allowed two hits and hit a batter but retired 10 of the last 13 batters he faced. Jones finished with six strikeouts, allowed seven hits total and didn’t walk a batter.

“Hats off to their pitcher. He gave up four runs, then settled down. He was in a zone,” Bourne said.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com