Spanish Fort’s John Henry Winstead struck out the last two batters to escape a bases-loaded jam and end the game as the visiting No. 7 Toros held off No. 5 Saraland 3-1 Friday night to sweep the Class 6A second-round playoff series.

Spanish Fort (26-10), which has won 12 straight games, took the opener 2-1 as shortstop Nemo Hixon turned a double play to end a Spartans threat and the game in the bottom of the seventh. Newton Gardner’s run-scoring double in the top of the sixth inning brought in the winning run.

The Toros continued their playoff mastery over Saraland (26-10), beating the Spartans for the third time in three tries in the playoffs. And, as in last year’s quarterfinals when Spanish Fort twice beat Saraland by a run after losing the opener, the Toros won the close games.

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“I couldn’t be more pleased right now,” said Toros coach Tommy Walker, who has 614 career wins, including three state championships at Spanish Fort. “We played so hard. We knew when the game was on the line that we’d come through. We knew we had a good, quality team. Our guys have been there.”

Winstead got the save in the seventh inning of the opener when he got Jameson Curtis to hit a grounder to Nixon, who touched second base to force out the tying run in Cam Warren, then threw on to first base to complete the double play.

Warren then proceeded to throw eight straight balls to open the second game before Cooper Henson came on to steer the Spartans through a bunch of land mines, allowing Spanish Fort to squeeze out only one run with the bases loaded.

“We left a lot on the table,” Walker said.

Winstead, pitching with magnificent composure, folded up the table in the top of the seventh. Trailing 3-1, Saraland’s Mike Smith bounced a ground ball over third baseman Gardner for a one-out single and Winstead walked Santae McWilliams and Brooks Womble to load the bases.

With Winstead nearing the end of his pitch count, Walker came to the mound to check on his pitcher, who had only recently recovered from a labrum injury.

“We weren’t going to take him out,” Walker said. “We were going to win or lose with him. John Henry is the classic three-pitch guy but more than that he’s just got heart. He wasn’t coming out. I knew he didn’t want to and I wasn’t going to ask him. I think he had seven or eight pitches left.”

Winstead then struck out Cam Laffitte and Evan Hilliard swinging on 1-2 counts to leave the bags overflowing with Spartans to end the game.

In the two games, Winstead allowed five hits and a run in eight innings and threw strikes on 78 of 114 pitches. He’s been efficient in the playoffs, allowing only nine hits and two runs while striking out 16 and walking five in 13 innings.

In Game 2, Winstead helped himself with two RBIs — one coming on a bases-loaded walk in the first and when he got hit with the bases loaded in a two-run fifth to give the Toros a 2-1 lead. Grant Howard’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.

Ethan Kick won the first game, allowing four hits and a run in six innings.

That either Kick or Winstead could pitch so well was remarkable given their health earlier in the season.

“John Henry was coming off a labrum (injury) and Kick was coming off Tommy John (surgery), so we babied them earlier,” Walker said. “We took our time with them. We knew we would need them in the playoffs.”

Their pitching held the top four batters in Saraland’s order — McWilliams, Womble, Laffitte and Hilliard — to a combined 2 of 23 in the two games. McWilliams, the two-sport star and leadoff hitter who had 32 steals in the regular season, didn’t steal a base in the postseason.

Despite those numbers, the Spartans kept both of Friday’s games manageable and coach Brett Boutwell — whose team had to sweep Theodore to reach the playoffs and then came from behind three times to beat Northridge in the first round — was proud of how his players didn’t quit.

“These kids have played four elimination games the last three weeks and fought through it,” he said. “I just knew we were going to get a hit to tie it in the seventh and then get a hit to win it and force Game 3. That’s how we’ve been playing. I never doubted them one bit.”

Henson struck out the last two batters in the first inning of Game 2 to leave the bases full of Toros. He came in with two runners on and no outs and walked Winstead to bring in a run.

“We were hoping Cam would give us three or four innings, but I didn’t know if we could get down big super early, especially after losing the first one 2-1,” Boutwell said. “We couldn’t give up a big number. Cooper came in with nobody out and pitched outstanding.”

Henson (5-2) got the loss, giving up two runs and three hits in 4.1 innings.

Hilliard (7-3) ended his high school career by pitching well but absorbing the loss in Game 1, giving up two runs and five hits in a complete game.