MOBILE, Alabama — The Pirates advanced to the 6A baseball semifinals with a shutout sweep of the Baker Hornets at Larry Andrews Field Friday on the Baker campus in West Mobile. Fairhope will host Central-Phenix City in a semifinal series beginning Friday.

Senior right handers Toby Thomas and Ethan Hunt went the distance and each tossed four-hitters in games one and two for wins of 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. It was the 10th win for each of them this year without a loss between them.

Fairhope scored all of it's runs in the first inning of each game. Two in the bottom of the first for Thomas in the matinee and three in the top half as visitors in the nightcap for Hunt as the Pirates improved to 35-6. Baker finished 26-11.

“It’s huge coming over here to get a win,” Fairhope head coach Stu Fuller said. “They have a great club. Coach (Bill) Glover does a great job. I was proud of our guys on the mound. Proud of our hitters. We did a great job with the wind in our face all day. It was tough with the wind, but we got enough offense and hits to get it done. Had another great week of preparation. They have worked hard and now we're going to get to be at Fairhope (this) weekend in the semifinals. It’s fun to be one of the last four standing.”

Game 2: Thomas doubled and Cole Wainwright singled. Jerrod Hathcock then hit a high line drive past the left fielder which skipped to the wall and turned into a 3-RBI, inside-the-park homer. It was all Hunt would need.

Game 1: Wainwright and Thomas reached on back-to-back singles and Chase Domino forced a run-scoring error. Hathcock then hit a sacrifice fly to give Thomas the early and sufficient lead.

The Pirates had two extra-base-saving, diving catches. One from Justin Hathcock in left and one from Domino in center.