Spanish Fort coach JD Pruitt’s message to his baseball team all week heading into a quarterfinal playoff series against No. 3 Saraland was consistent and simple.

“Be Us.”

That turned out to be just enough.

Brayden Cooper’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning scored a sliding Newton Gardner with the winning run and the sixth-ranked Toros knocked off the Spartans 12-11 to win the decisive Game 3 on an overcast Saturday at Spanish Fort.

“I knew going in that we just had to be us — be tough competitors. Quite simply put, that is exactly what we did,” Pruitt said. “We just stayed the course. Even when they jumped out on us, we got back in there and said, ‘We don’t have to get it all back at this time. Just keep chopping.’ I’m just proud of my guys. Such an emotional series. Crowd was unbelievable. Atmosphere was unbelievable.”

Spanish Fort (27-15) moves on to the semifinals for the first time since 2015. The Toros will play at Stanhope Elmore for the right to go to the Class 6A finals. Saraland, making the quarterfinals for the first time in school history, finished 27-10.

“To lose the first game and come back and win two, extra-inning games. That speaks a lot about the character of this team,” Pruitt said. “That is what we have. We have a great team. We don’t have a lot of superstars. We don’t have the D1 guys. We don’t have those guys. We have a really good team of guys who just love each other and love to compete.”

RELATED: Saturday’s statewide scores

The intense series was played before a near capacity crowd, some of whom got feisty at times. At one point Saturday, officials made a group of Spanish Fort students move from their post down the right-field line and relocate to stands behind the plate. Saraland won the opener Thursday 3-1 behind Bryson Goff. Spanish Fort rallied for an 8-7, nine-inning win in Game 2.

On Saturday, the teams combined for 23 runs, 21 hits, eight errors and 15 walks. Saraland had leads of 4-0 and 10-7. Spanish Fort led 7-4 and 11-10 before it ultimately came down to the Toros’ final at-bat. Gardner struck out to lead off the eighth but reached on a wild pitch and went to second on a passed ball.

“I was kind of thinking about bunting, but I decided to give us three shots to get this guy home from second,” Pruitt said.

Spanish Fort needed only one shot.

Cooper ripped a single to right-field, scoring Gardner and leading to a Toro celebration.

“Brayden has been an offensive guy for us all season,” Pruitt said. “He went through a period of time when he struggled. Again, it just embodies our team. They just keep fighting and keep playing. That has been him all year long. It doesn’t surprise me with him.”

Cam Warren, who started for Saraland and then re-entered in the seventh, took the loss. Lakelon Ray, the fifth Spanish Fort pitcher, earned the win.

“We are going to enjoy this one, but we have a tough challenge in front of us,” Pruitt said. “Stanhope has a really good club. We have to go to their place. Our guys will have to regroup and get ready to go have another emotional series, but I expect us to do the same thing. We are going to enjoy this one. They deserve it. Complete team effort. I think we used just about every living soul we had in the dugout.”

Unsung Hero: Saraland tied the game at 11-11 in the seventh and threatened to break on top. The Spartans had runners on first and second with one out after a Goff single. However, Spanish Fort shortstop Nemo Hixon made a diving stop on Jamison Curtis’ groundball in the hole and got a force play on Goff at second.

The Toros got the final out to keep the game tied.

“Another young kid,” Pruitt said of Hixon. “You are going to take some lumps with a sophomore shortstop. He’s had his struggles this year, but he’s so athletic to where he can make plays like that and save you runs, and that is what he did.”

Individual Stats: Spanish Fort – Cooper, Hayes Miller and Ray each had two RBIs. Miller was 3-for-3 with a run scored and a walk. Ray pitched the final inning, striking out one for the win. Saraland – Brooks Womble homered and walked three times. Mike Smith was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Clint Smith and Goff each had two hits.

Coachspeak:

“I thought our kids played with unbelievable class. The effort they gave .. I cannot fault their effort. I thought our fans were outstanding, and that is why I love coaching in this community.” – Saraland coach Brett Boutwell.

“After starting the season 6-5 when we knew we were playing really good competition to open the year – to see them make a run like this and going into a Game 3 on a 21-4 run, that was special. I’m really super proud of the effort we gave today. There were times in the game we could have folded our tails and ran from it, but we are not going to do that at Saraland. Those kids fought to the very end, and that is all that I wanted.”