‘It’s big.’ Great Crossing rallies from 5-0 deficit to grab its first region baseball win.

Great Crossing right fielder Peyton Mullannix admitted he didn’t see the liner into the gap off the barrel of the bat when it was struck Monday night as his Warhawks tried to close out an 11th Region baseball tournament win at home.

“It was a full guess, and I just saw it and tracked it down and went for it,” Mullannix said. “I didn’t think I was going to get to it.”

Mullannix’s diving stab snatched a would-be RBI double out of the air, and his throw to second base caught a stunned Paul Laurence Dunbar runner off the bag for the third out to end the game and cap their thrilling 10-7 come-from-behind victory.

Until Monday, Great Crossing had two region tournament appearances as 41st District champions and two first-round defeats to red-hot teams out of Lexington.

“Three years in a row, we pulled the hardest team in the pool,” said Great Crossing starting pitcher Nate Adkins. “It’s the first time we’ve gotten past the first round, and it’s big.”

But Adkins and the Warhawks (23-12) got off to a disastrous start against a Dunbar team ranked No. 6 in the state in the PrepBaseballReport.com final regular season poll of coaches.

The Bulldogs sent all nine batters to the plate in the first inning and took a 5-0 lead when Tyler Baker’s bases-loaded single to center was misplayed, allowing all three base-runners to score. Dunbar had already pushed two runs across thanks to a leadoff double by Nick Griffith and RBI by Scott Kendrick and Tyler Gadd.

“I really got down,” Adkins said. “I got back in the dugout and Coach (Ben) Overstreet came over to me and lit a fire under me.”

That fire could have been started with Great Crossing’s bats. In the bottom of the first inning, the Warhawks answered Dunbar’s five-spot with one of their own. And all of Great Crossing’s five runs to tie the game came with two outs.

Chase Coulter had two of his team-high three RBI on a line drive to left to keep the rally going at 5-3. A wild pitch and an error helped bring in the next two runs.

“When you get down, even if it’s a large number like that, if you come back and put that same number or more on them, that gets them down,” Great Crossing Coach Greg Stratton said. “Once that happened it took our confidence to a whole new level.”

Coulter struck again in the third inning as a walk and a hit batsman by Dunbar starter Jared Eisiminger set the table for his RBI single. Ben Lacy followed with a two-run single to put Great Crossing up 8-5.

Dunbar trimmed its deficit to 8-7 in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Gadd and an run-scoring single by Cole Shanks. But Great Crossing answered again in the bottom half with run-scoring singles by Zach Morris and Adkins, the pitcher.

After the game, Dunbar Coach Steve Deaton acknowledged that Great Crossing’s rally to tie the game in the first inning proved pivotal.

“It was big. We were feeling good about everything,” Deaton said. “Baseball is a funny game where you’ve got to play the whole seven innings. We fought and competed the whole time.”

The Bulldogs finished the season 22-9, their best record in Deaton’s three seasons at the helm. It was Dunbar’s first region tournament appearance since 2012.

“I’m extremely proud and blessed to be their coach,” he said. “They’ve done more than a team has done in 11-12 years here, so they should be proud of their accomplishments.”

Monday’s other first-round games

Madison Central 4, Scott County 3: The defending region champion Indians (26-9) capitalized on Cardinals miscues for two runs in the first inning and got run-scoring hits by Daniel Bauer in the third and Keith Stewart in the fourth to provide enough cushion for the home win at Tomahawk Valley.

Madison Central’s Sam Coleman pitched 6⅔ innings and didn’t allow any runs until Scott County’s three-run rally in the seventh. Griffin Lyons came on in relief of Coleman and gave up a walk to put two on with two out, but struck out the final Scott County batter for the save.

Madison Central’s first two runs came with two outs in the first as a hit batsman and an intentional walk put runners on for Gunnar Rhodus, whose fly ball was misplayed in right field, allowing both runs to score.

Paul Garner led Scott County (20-16) with two hits and two RBI.

Lexington Catholic 16, Franklin County 2: The Knights (27-9) pummeled the visiting Flyers with 12 runs in the fourth inning highlighted two Griffin Cameron at-bats that resulted in a two-run double and a two-run single.

Cameron had four hits with five RBI and three runs scored to lead LexCath. Owen Jenkins had three RBI, Zach Grigalis had two. Joey Prisinzano pitched 3⅓ innings for the win, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out three.

Sayre 8, Madison Southern 0: Addison Stockham and Reed Beatty each had two-run singles as the host Spartans got a combined shutout from pitchers Camden Stout and Jaxson Howard.

Stout pitched four innings for the win, scattering five of Madison Southern’s six hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

Sayre (29-8) put the game away with four runs in the third inning on an RBI single by Graham Johnson followed by a run scored via wild pitch and Beatty’s single up the middle.

11th Region Tournament

At Madison Central

Tuesday

6 p.m.: Lexington Catholic (27-9) vs. Madison Central (26-9)

8 p.m.: Sayre (29-9) vs. Great Crossing (22-12)

Wednesday

7 p.m.: Championship game

‘Playing for each other.’ Lexington Catholic shuts out Madison Central in region tourney.