WOODVILLE &045; That definitely was jitters that got the best of WCCA freshman Collin Dor on the mound at the start of Friday’s game.

But he wasn’t alone. The Rams were hosting their first playoff game in 20 years on Friday against Claiborne Academy, so you can bet there were more knots in everyone’s stomachs than on the rope in gym class.

And even when the Rams trailed by three heading into the their half of the fifth, there could have been some tense moments. But a big rally in the fifth broke it open to make way for an 11-7 win over the Rebels to take the best-of-three series 2-0 and advance to the second round of the Class A playoffs.

The Rams will face defending state champion Porter’s Chapel in a series that begins Tuesday in Woodville.

&uot;That was a lot of pressure on (Dor), and he handled it real well,&uot; WCCA head coach Ray Olive said. &uot;He pitched a good game, and that was a big win for a freshman. When we started in the district tournament, I got this mindset and told the kids we were going one game at a time and not looking forward. To be honest with you, I haven’t thought about Porter’s Chapel.

&uot;I’ve heard things about them, but I haven’t thought about them. They’re a good team and a high-scoring team. We’ll have our hands full.&uot;

There were plenty of reasons to rejoice for the Rams, the No. 2 team out of District 6 who scored 24 runs in their two games with Claiborne. It gave Dor plenty of room to work, particularly after that seven-run fifth that gave the Rams a 9-5 lead.

Facing the same pitcher they faced in Game 1 Tuesday in left-hander Daniel Bays, the Rams jumped on him after a couple of innings to break it open.

&uot;We came in and said we needed something to happen,&uot; said Spike Deville, whose triple drove in two runs to break a 5-5 tie with no outs in the inning. &uot;It’s always like that &045; we never really hit the ball the whole game. We say we need to get the bats going, and two or three get hits. All of us step up and hits. You could say it’s contagious.&uot;

Stephen Goulette had the first big shot of the inning when he doubled in Ruston Cado and Cody Longmire to tie the game at 5-5. Duston Dor reached on an error by the shortstop to move Goulette to third, and Deville’s shot in the gap brought Dor and Goulette home and broke the game open.

It was good enough for Claiborne head coach Wayne Murray to pull Bays, despite the defense behind him making two errors in that inning.

&uot;It just snowballed,&uot; Murray said. &uot;We’ve been like that all year &045; just one bad inning every game. We play a bunch of young kids. I’ve got a couple seniors, and I’m going to miss Bays on the mound. Bays threw seven innings Tuesday, and he wanted the ball. That’s what you want as a coach, but I probably left him in there a little too long. But he’s a competitor.&uot;

Once the hits started to come in that fifth, it was awfully reminiscent of Tuesday’s game when the Rams tagged Bays for 13 runs. The left-hander had better success in the first four innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out three.

Deville scored the first run in the second when he walked and scored on a Cody Butler single, and Taylor Fontenot scored in the third when he walked and scored on a Butler double.

&uot;I think it was over-confidence,&uot; Olive said. &uot;At the beginning of the game we had our heads down. It was a matter of our minds getting right to hit him. We couldn’t get too far ahead. He pitched well against us Tuesday. Both teams hit well, and it was a tight strike zone. It was a good hitter’s game, and it was again today.&uot;

The Rams got another in the fifth off reliever Ben Abshire and tacked on two in the sixth. Deville’s ground-rule double to right scored Goulette, and Fontenot singled in Deville.

The Rebels scored two in the first off Dor when he walked three of the first four batters he faced. They put two more on the board in the fourth and one in the fifth before going down in order in the sixth.

In the seventh the Rebels got a walk from Bays to lead off the inning before Olive brought in Brad Pritchard in relief of Dor. The Rebels then loaded the bases and got two runs in when Will Abercrombie singled in Bays and Matt Hanna walked with the bases loaded, but Pritchard sent Josh Legendre down on three straight pitches to end the game.

&uot;WCCA is a good team, and they’re well-disciplined,&uot; Murray said. &uot;Coach Olive does a good job with them. But we did that in the first game &045; we scored nine runs in the first three innings, and we went into a slump.&uot;

Dor finished the game with three strikeouts and eight hits allowed. The Rebels ended the game with nine man left on base.