Things got a little tighter than Porter’s Chapel Academy might have liked, but it still managed to get the upper hand in its MAIS baseball playoff series against Tunica Academy.

The Eagles had an early seven-run lead chopped to one before holding the line, then scored two insurance runs in the sixth inning to beat Tunica 9-6 in Game 1 of their second-round Class 3A series on Monday.

Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday at 4 p.m. at Tunica. If Game 3 is needed, it will be played immediately afterward.

PCA (16-8) jumped out to a 7-0 lead through three innings in Game 1. Lawson Selby hit an RBI single and Gage Palmer a bases-clearing double in the second inning. In the third, Thomas Azlin doubled in two runs, and one of Tunica’s four errors allowed another to score.

The comfortable cushion evaporated quickly, however. Three errors, two walks and two hit batters led to a six-run inning for Tunica (13-6). PCA committed seven errors in the game.

Chase Hearn replaced starting pitcher Gage Palmer after the third error of the inning and got out of the jam with PCA still ahead 7-6. He only allowed one hit and two walks over the last 3 1/3 innings, and did not give up a run.

In the bottom of the sixth, a walk and three consecutive errors led to two more runs for the Eagles, to push their lead to 9-6.

In addition to his excellent pitching, Hearn went 2-for-3 with three runs scored. Selby was 3-for-4 with one RBI and three runs scored, while Azlin went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.