TIFTON — Graysan Del Toro’s warm-up pitches might have had Richmond Hill feeling confident. In with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the bases loaded in a one-run game, several of Del Toro’s warm-ups hit the backstop instead of Sam Pritchard’s glove. But once it was business, so was Del Toro.

The first two pitches caught Richmond Hill looking. The third was a borderline ball. The next was fouled off, but Del Toro’s last caught the Wildcats looking again and Tift County held on to a 9-8 victory in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader. The first contest was also a marathon, a 13-12 Richmond Hill win.

Tift, tied with Colquitt County for second in Region 1-6A at 4-2, will host the Packers Tuesday. Colquitt fell in two of three to Lowndes (5-1), including their Friday doubleheader in Valdosta.

Head coach Greg Williams said a number of players stepped up big when he needed them in the nightcap. Del Toro, of course, Jake Spurlin with a two-run double in the sixth, and Landon Parrish. “He gave us some big innings,” Williams said. In relief, Parrish struck out six in 2 2/3 innings while earning the win. “Big pitches to get us to the seventh inning,” he said.

John Davis was a triple short of the cycle in the opener and drove in five runs. However, the Wildcats tallied eight times in the second frame. Tift battled back from that 8-3 deficit to be down 10-9 after six. Both sides scored three in the seventh, but the Devils could not get any more with the bases loaded and one out.

“That team right there … ,” Williams began about Richmond Hill. He didn’t have to finish the sentence. Everyone in the dugouts and in attendance knew they had seen tremendous battles.

Tift County hit in 13 innings Friday. They tallied at least once in 11 of them.

Pritchard got Richmond Hill to throw to second in the second inning of game two, enough time to let Tyler VanSumeren scoot home for a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats went up 2-1 in the third on RBIs by Lee Johnson and Eli Howard, but Tift tied it in the bottom half when Davis forced an error and Drew Hembree crossed.

After four frames, it was 5-5. Richmond Hill’s big blow was Grant Wagner’s blast that hit high off the scoreboard, and a double by Aiden Pluff.

Williams called the three-game series “the weirdest” he’d ever been in as a coach. The top of the fourth was a big contributor to that assessment.

While the runs were traditional, the inning was not. Two of the ‘Cats’ outs came at the plate. A runner escaped Ean Weldon’s tag at the dish, but was out for running out of the baseline to do so. Out No. 3 was a rare interference call, one that injured Weldon as his hand collided with the bat while trying to make a quick throw to third to catch a leaning runner.

Mason Grist, Drew Hembree and Brodie Law scored in the bottom half on hits by Will Pridgen and Mac Brooks and a sac fly by Tyler VanSumeren.

Parrish struck out the side in the fifth, and the Blue Devils were able to regain the lead in the same frame. Pinch-runner Thomas Pritchett scored on an error.

Pluff doubled the Wildcats into a tie in the sixth at 6-6, but Tift got a more extended rally in the bottom half to go ahead by three.

Brooks, Van Sumeren and Parrish loaded the bases with no outs, the latter two bunting their way on. Pritchard’s sacrifice garnered the first run, then Spurlin, who’d had a tough series, came through with a double past a diving right fielder to easily score VanSumeren and Parrish.

Up 9-6, it was now time to grit teeth with two outs. There were two on and two outs and two strikes when Tony Berry was hit by a pitch. Johnson singled for a run, then Howard walked. Williams went to the bullpen for Del Toro, who uncorked wild warm-ups but shut the door on another comeback.

Spurlin drove in two runs. Hembree had three hits. He, along with VanSumeren, scored twice. Parrish picked up his first win of the season, striking out six. Tift fanned 12 total.

WILDCATS 13, DEVILS 12

A baseball game was played Friday and a football score resulted. Tift and Richmond Hill needed three hours and change to finish up the opening contest, which saw 25 runs, 25 hits, 13 walks, 13 strikeouts and six errors.

Davis fired the opening salvo, a 375-foot homer to right-center in the first inning that brought home Pridgen. Pritchard made it 3-0 when his squeeze bunt plated Brooks.

Richmond Hill fired back with eight-run second, a frame that saw them dink and softly roll infield grounders all over the place while sending 13 to the plate. Only one hit was as much as a double, a bases-loaded effort by Pluff that cleared the bags. Weldon ended the inning by throwing out a would-be base-stealer who attempted his theft immediately after Jace Long entered in relief.

Long kept Tift afloat with 2.2 innings of work as the Blue Devils worked their way back into the contest. They got two back immediately on a two-run bloop single by Davis, and scored again in the third when Weldon hit the chalk on a double, driving in Parrish.

The Wildcats scored once in the fourth, and TCHS made it 9-8 with a pair of runs. In the bottom half, Parrish and Pritchard singled in runs.

Connor Gilkey doubled and scored in the fifth. Weldon prevented a second after a soft single to Brooks in left. Brooks made a perfect throw and Weldon held on despite being knocked backwards on a collision.

Tift scratched a run to get to 10-9 after six. Davis doubled, went to third on a sac bunt and scored on a wild pitch.

Johnson made the potential comeback much tougher on a two-run single and he came around to score on a throwing error. The Wildcats were up four runs when Tift came to bat in the seventh.

Odds were against such a big comeback, but they almost did it. Walker Brannen earned a walk, with Spurlin reentering the game on first. Grist singled and Weldon loaded the bases on an error.

The Wildcats got a strikeout, but gave up a tally when Davis was hit by a pitch. Another error off the bat of Brooks scored Grist and courtesy runner Law. Tift was in position to do more, especially as VanSumeren was intentionally walked, but Richmond Hill buckled down and got the last two outs to escape.

Davis and Parrish had three hits apiece, Davis driving in five runs. Four players scored twice.