When the Daphne Trojans won the 6A Area 3 championship over Fairhope last week, it inadvertently helped their AHSAA Class 6A first round opponent, the Baldwin County High School Tigers.

The Trojans lost two-of-three in a regular season best-of-three finale series against rival Fairhope, but won the game that counted in the are standings. Had Daphne finished as the Area 3 runner up, it would have had to travel to face fifth-ranked McGill-Toolen on Friday. In that instance, BCHS would have traveled to face a Fairhope squad that had been ranked No. 1 for much of the season. Instead, BCHS traveled to face the 17-16 Trojans. Because it finished as the runner up, Fairhope played at and subsequently lost to McGill-Toolen, while BCHS swept Daphne.

BCHS wins behind pitching, defense: Baldwin County Game 1 starter Jansen Boeschen threw a three-hit complete game against the Trojans, while Game 2 starter J.A. Harville went 5 1/3 for the win.

BCHS coach Peter Bezeredi said he thought Boeschen was dominating and Harville had taken over Game 2 after a rocky start.

“J.A., a couple years ago when he went out and didn’t have his good stuff, he probably would have folded,” Bezeredi said. “He just battled through it and we had got some clutch hitting. Kristian Johnson had some clutch hits.”

The Tigers also had several big defensive plays, including two from left fielder Johnson in Game 2, to help seal the deal. One catch near the third base line in left saved at least one Daphne run, and another stopped a potential bases loaded, two-out Trojan rally.

“The past week we haven’t played real good defensively and we had a real long practice on Wednesday,” Bezeredi said. “I challenged them defensively to play better and they gave it everything they got. If we continue to do that we’ll be fine.”

Early exits for four Baldwin teams: Fairhope, Daphne, Gulf Shores and Bayside Academy were swept out of the playoffs on Friday.

Fairhope, who fell from No. 1 to No. 7 in the final ASWA regular season poll, fell in back-to-back games for the first time all season. Daphne, who won Area 3 over Fairhope, committed four errors in Game 1 and couldn’t break through Baldwin County’s tough pitching on Friday. The Trojans fell to 17-18 overall. Gulf Shores was swept by St. Paul’s, while Bayside Academy fell in two at Geneva.

Daphne, Fairhope to play in Hoover tournament: The Daphne Lady Trojans and Fairhope Lady Pirates will play in the Hoover Classic softball tournament this weekend.

Fairhope coach Jonathan Heflin said he hopes the tournament experience benefits his team when the regional tournament begin next week.

“That’s one of the best tournaments yearly in the state right before the state tournament,” Heflin said. “Hopefully we are going to go up there and see some of the top 6A teams that, if we are fortunate enough to continue this run and get to the state tournament, that we will have seen them and have some experience and we will know what we need to prepare for.”