It took longer – much longer – than expected, but top-ranked Appalachian moved one win away from a Class 1A state baseball title.

The Eagles (30-4) waited out a four-hour rain delay, pounded out 15 hits and walloped Brantley 18-3 in Game 1 of their best-of-three title series at Oxford’s Choccolocco Park.

“We are excited, but we told our kids that the score tonight has nothing to do with tomorrow,” Appalachian coach Brandon Johnson said. “It’s a whole new day. They are fighting for their lives, and we are, too. We walked in the door, saying, ‘Hey man, this is a 21-inning series, and we have to be ready to compete and play one pitch at a time.”

Appalachian scored two runs in the second and four more in the fourth and led 6-1 in the top of the fifth when the game was stopped for lightning in the area. Heavy rains followed, leading to the long delay.

It also meant Johnson had a big decision to make with his starting pitcher, junior Preston Martin, on a roll early in the game but having to wait out the delay.

“He was cruising. He was really in a groove, so we were going to run him back out and see what he could do,” Johnson said. “The way the pitch count is. The way it sets up. You have to try and save guys because tomorrow could be a long day. The plan was to get five out of him tonight, but he just kept pitching.”

Martin ended up going the distance, scattering nine hits and allowing three runs. He struck out five and walked three. Cooper Layton, the first of five Brantley pitchers, took the loss.

When the game resumed, Appalachian immediately added four more runs for a 10-1 lead. The Eagles then sent 14 batters to the plate in the seventh inning and scored eight more runs. They capitalized on five Brantley errors, leading to eight unearned runs.

“I understand what coach was doing,” Johnson said of Brantley’s Austin Brook. “You get behind and you have to start thinking a little bit differently, and we were able to put some big hits together.”

Camdyn Moore, Garrett Helms, Chris Heekin and Talan Shirley all had three hits for Appalachian. Helms drove in three runs. Moore, Heekin, Shirley, Jaxon Hicks and Jackson Baswell drove in two each.

Kaleb Weed drove in two of Brantley’s runs. Jordan Parks was 3-for-4.

Game 2 is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Jacksonville State. Brantley would need to win to force Game 3.

Appalachian will be trying to win the school’s first AHSAA team championship in any sport.