The defending Class 7A state champions are moving on after a wild finish.

A walk-off home run from Myles Hammonds in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Class 7A No. 2 Bob Jones to a 7-6 victory over No. 6 Thompson in a decisive Game 3 of a first-round playoff series.

The Patriots will face Class 7A No. 1 Hewitt-Trussville for a highly-anticipated matchup in the second round.

Hammonds’ game-winning home run to left field was preceded by a 3-run home run by Tanner Hermesch in the bottom of the seventh with one out. The homer scored Cole Spainer and Alabama signee Zack Johnson while also tying the game up 6-6.

All of the Patriots’ runs were scored on homers, with solo shots from Dillon Atkins and C Martin in the bottom of the first giving Bob Jones a 2-0 lead.

Thompson tacked on 5 of its 6 runs in the top of the third, which included a 3-run homer from Wyatt Williams and a solo homer from Ma’Kale Holden, both Alabama baseball recruits.

Ashton Blair’s sacrifice fly to score Collier Smith in the bottom of the seventh provided the final run for the Warriors.

Josh Wilhide picked up the win for Bob Jones with 5.2 innings of work out of the bullpen. He allowed 2 earned runs and a walk while striking out a pair of batters.

Johnson went a perfect 4-for-4 for Bob Jones, while Hammonds, Spainer and Drake Barbee collected a pair of hits each.

Holden and Anderson Harris both went 2-for-4 at the plate for Thompson in the loss.