Porters Chapel needed a dramatic late-inning comeback to win Game 1 of its playoff series with Glenbrook.

The only drama in Game 2 was whether it would end early.

PCA exploded for nine runs in the fourth inning — the last eight coming with two outs — and finished off a first-round sweep of Glenbrook with a 14-4 victory Thursday night at Pierce Field. The game ended via the mercy rule when Matthew Warren, whose three-run homer propelled the Eagles to victory in the opener, doubled in a pair of runs in the sixth inning.

Josh Hill also had two hits and three RBIs for PCA (19-8), while Josh Perry and Joe Borrello each went 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

“It was a great feeling. A little payback for football,” said PCA pitcher Reed Gordon, who allowed one earned run and two hits in 4 2/3 innings. “But the big thing is to get through the first round only needing two games.”

The sweep gave PCA a measure of redemption after it lost in the football playoffs to Glenbrook each of the last two seasons and set up a second-round MPSA Class A matchup with another old rival, Franklin, which swept Newton Academy in another first-round series. PCA beat Franklin in the Class A South State finals twice this decade, in 2003 and 2004.

By sweeping Glenbrook (17-6), PCA is also able to reset its pitching staff and send ace Montana McDaniel to the hill when it hosts Game 1 on Monday night at 6.

“This was a huge win today. I can’t say enough about the job Reed Gordon did,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “Not having to stretch our pitching to three games and have it lined up for next week is going to help us tremendously.”

Thursday’s game seemed to turn on one play in the bottom of the fourth.

PCA entered the inning with a 2-1 lead, then pushed another run across. With two outs and the bases loaded, Clayton Holmes hit a chopper up the middle that shortstop Chandler Singleton fielded on the hop. Singleton double-clutched on his throw, then fired the ball past the first baseman and into the Glenbrook dugout. Instead of being out of the inning with minimal damage, the infield single and error brought in two runs to make it 5-1 and opened the floodgates.

Three of the next four batters walked and the other was hit by a pitch, forcing in three more runs. Hill followed that with a two-run single to make it 11-1. In a span of six batters, PCA scored eight runs and turned a slim lead into a 10-run rout.

Glenbrook cut it to 11-4 on Hunter Cavalier’s three-run homer in the fifth, but it only averted the mercy rule temporarily. Gabby Hays circled the bases on a stolen base and two steals to make it 12-4 in the bottom of the fifth, and Warren’s two-run double in the sixth ended it.

“Pitching let us down. Our senior pitchers just couldn’t throw strikes,” said Glenbrook coach Andy Fish, who used four pitchers in the game, the first three of them seniors. “They’re lacking that senior leadership. We have plenty of seniors, but the leadership isn’t there.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com