SPANISH FORT, Ala. — In an inter-divisional doubleheader featuring two Top-10 teams, Fairhope High swept host Spanish Fort on The Hill Monday.

The No. 1 ranked 6A Pirates won the opener 12-10 in eight innings after the No. 2-ranked 5A Toros had tied it 9-9 in the bottom of the seventh. The second game was a 6-2 win for Fairhope in which a lot of younger players on both rosters saw action.

Fairhope coach Stu Fuller said the final 15 innings of live play served both teams well in the spring-break approach to the playoffs. The Pirates hit a total of eight home runs on the day.

“We got plenty of live at-bats. That is what today was all about and we were fortunate to come out on top in both of them, very fortunate,” he said. “It was just getting everyone some at-bats. We threw a ton of guys today and so did they. Spanish Fort has a great club and they are very much deserving of their ranking. The first ball game was kind of crazy. Back-and-forth, back-and-forth. But it was good to see us swing the bats.”

The 5A defending state champion Toros coach Tommy Walker said some important pre-playoff polishing was accomplished in spite of the scores.

“We needed to see good pitching and face good hitters,” Walker said. “Really, we hadn’t been tested a whole lot in the last month so this was good for us. Game two, it was good to see a bunch of young guys play for both sides. Coach Fuller and I decided to do that before we even started. No matter what happened in the first game we were going to play these other guys in game two. It is going to help us in the playoffs.”

Walker added that the exposure to Fairhope’s deep, talented hitting line up would pay benefits down the post-season road.

“We did a good job as the game went on adjusting to what they were doing — hitting some balls hard the other way, We didn’t do a great job pitching for the first time in a long time. We didn’t hit spots and we are going to see some very good teams in the playoffs. We are going to be fine. Just like we made eight errors against Auburn was kind of an aberration, us giving up 12 runs in a game was an aberration. We had a 1.67 ERA coming into today, but it was just one of those days from the mound standpoint.”

The Pirates improved to 29-4 overall while the Toros fell to 26-7.

Friday, both teams start the first round of the playoffs. Spanish Fort begins their quest to defend the state title hosting Faith Academy with a 4:30 p.m. doubleheader. Fairhope travels to McGill-Toolen Catholic for an 11 a.m. doubleheader start.

On the field, the Pirates were challenged but got it done with the stick.

In game one, Robert Baugh, Peyton Fuller, Justin Hathcock, Wes Kent and

Toby Thomas each had home runs for FHS. Evan East was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Chase Domino went 2-for-4. Toby Thomas (8-0) was the winner in relief.

Troy Brown and Zac Fowler each homered for SFHS. Chris Beasley went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI and Danny Rose was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

In game two, Fairhope's Jerrod Hathcock delivered a pair of home runs with hree RBIs and rock Gilheart had solo homer and was 2-for-3 at the plate. Beecher Faust also drove in a run on a fielder's choice for the Pirates who built a 6-0 lead. FHS starter Quint Fields (4-0) would get the decision.

Spanish Fort got on the board late in the bottom of the sixth as Nate Blackmon went 2-for-3 on a double with an RBI, Heith Brown added an RBI and Shane English went 2-for-4.