Bayshore Christian’s march to a possible third straight state baseball title got off to an impressive start Friday afternoon.

The Class 2A top-ranked Eagles limited visiting Ranburne to just four hits – all in Game 1 – en route to a 10-0, 14-0 doubleheader sweep in the first round of the postseason. Both games lasted just five innings.

Bayshore (21-4) has now won 12 straight games and 16 of the last 17. The Eagles’ last loss came on March 21.

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“I feel good about these guys,” Bayshore coach Jeff Hauge said. “They show up in practice every day. They show up to play every day. They give great effort, and that’s all I can ask for. I love this team. I love how they approach each and every day. They play hard, and they play for each other.

“I feel confident that we will have a chance every night out because of that.”

The Eagles, who won the last two Class 1A state titles in their first two years of AHSAA eligibility, were moved up to Class 2A this year by competitive balance. They will play either Pike Liberal Arts or Cottonwood in the second round next week.

Bayshore closed Friday’s series with a combined no-hitter in Game 2. Mikael Bryant pitched the first three innings, striking out four and walking two, to get the win. Nate Crooms pitched the final two innings, striking out five and walking just one.

“It’s great to get two wins. We got to play a lot of guys,” Hauge said. “We had some big hits, did a lot of good things. We had good baserunning, played solid defense and had that combined no-hitter. I’m proud of the way we attacked it today.”

The Eagles scored in every inning but the third in the second game, racing out to a 4-0 first-inning lead and then adding two in the second, three in the fourth and five in the fifth. Cole Dean was 3-for-4 in the No. 3 hole with three triples and five RBIs. He scored three runs.

“Cole barreled up a bunch of balls today,” Hauge said. “It’s good to see him swinging it like that. We’ve been working on his swing a bit the last few weeks, so it was good to see him coming out swinging it today. We had some other guys who hit it hard. We had some loud outs today. We hit some balls right on the nose, right at guys.”

Bayshore finished Game 2 with 11 hits. Bryant and Samford signee John Malone each had two hits and two RBIs.

Dean went the distance in Game 1 as Hauge elected to save top starter Streed Crooms for the next round. Dean allowed just the four hits in five innings and struck out three.

Malone and Joel Douglas Chandler had a pair of RBIs. William Nance and Riley Malone each had two hits. Caleb Pollard had two of Ranburne’s four hits. Tate Bailey and Cason Jones had the other hits.

Ranburne coach Chase Whitley had to retool this year after losing 10 players from last year (six graduated, three decided not to play, one transferred).

“The fact that we made the playoffs is a big deal,” Whitley said. “Coming into the season, I didn’t know how many games we would win. We have five juniors, and this is really their first time being able to play on the varsity level. They’ve been immaculate when it comes to leadership.

“They’ve been great with how they dealt with seventh-graders playing at very skilled positions of shortstop and second base, an eighth-grader who contributed mightily on the mound and our ace for the year was a ninth-grader. I’m proud of the guys.”

Whitley also said he was impressed with the Eagles.

“We don’t give everyone the best look with what we have, but from what I see you can tell they are very disciplined at the plate,” he said. “They have tough at-bats. They don’t go out of the zone a lot. They don’t overswing. They have experienced leadership. When you have player leadership, you are probably going to be competitive. If coaches have to do all the leadership, you aren’t going to be great. These guys are very confident in what they do, they play the game the right way and their infield is awesome to watch.”