Wilkinson County Christian Academy got a little more mileage out of its big inning than Tallulah Academy did, and that made a huge difference.

WCCA erased a three-run deficit by scoring four runs in the top of the third inning, and Gage Metz made it stand up with an excellent pitching performance as the Rams won 4-3 in Game 1 of their MAIS Class 2A baseball semifinal series against Tallulah Academy on Wednesday.

WCCA (14-10) took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series and will host Games 2 and 3 at home Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tallulah Academy (20-12) needs to win both to advance to the Class 2A championship series next week.

Tallulah broke out first in Game 1 by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. J.T. McDaniel reached on a one-out walk, Tripp Gayle followed with a single, and then Charlie Vining laid down a bunt. The throw to second base was misplayed, which allowed McDanioel to score. Later in the inning, Gayle and Vining scored on a throwing error to make it 3-0.

The lead didn’t last too long, though. WCCA had five hits in the third inning, including RBI doubles by Carter Graham and Jacob Sessions, and an RBI single by Tucker Freeman. Sessions’ double brought in two runs to give the Rams the lead, then Metz went to work on the mound.

Metz retired 15 of 17 batters after his shaky start, and did not allow the two batters who reached to get past first base.

Metz was pulled at the end of the sixth inning and Tallulah finally put two runners on base with two outs in the seventh inning against the reliever Sessions. However, Sessions was able to get Gayle to line out to right field to end the game.

Metz finished with 10 strikeouts in six innings. For Tallulah, McDaniel went the full seven innings and had seven strikeouts while allowing seven hits and no walks.