TIFTON — Tift County and North Paulding return to Devil Diamond Thursday for the third game to their first-round baseball series.

Behind the brilliant pitching of John Davis and excellent defense, the Blue Devils won the opener 3-1. The visiting Wolfpack used a five-run fourth en route to a 9-2 victory in the nightcap.

Game 3 begins at 5 p.m.

The winner will either host Chapel Hill or play at Buford in the second round. Buford won 8-0 in that series’ opener.

Single runs in the first, fourth and fifth were enough for the Blue Devils in the opening contest, and for Davis, who held North Paulding to four hits. Davis struck out eight and walked but two.

Under a blazing south Georgia sun, the Devils worked quickly.

Davis hit a leadoff single and though he was erased on a fielder’s choice by Tyler VanSumeren, Jake Spurlin doubled off the left field wall. VanSumeren scored and it was 1-0.

North Paulding tied it up in the second. The Wolfpack had a leadoff triple, courtesy Lawson Sheffield. Bryce Davis singled him and, with no outs, it appeared the visitors might be figuring out something on Davis, especially when they loaded the bases.

Davis got out of trouble with a strikeout, a pattern that held true the rest of the way. The Wolfpack got a runner to third twice more and both times, the inning ended with a strikeout.

The 1-1 tie held until the fourth, when Tift County found itself new heroes.

Mason Grist doubled off the third baseman’s glove down the line and, with two down, Trey Dorminey got his first hit of the regular season, a liner up the middle. The Blue Devils were back ahead at 2-1 and weren’t about to give it up.

They manufactured a big insurance run in the fifth. VanSumeren, Drew Hembree and Spurlin filled the bases without a hit. Though VanSumeren was erased on a fielder’s choice at the plate, the bags remained filled. Landon Parrish earned a walk in that situation, Hembree coming home to make it 3-1.

Davis went through the ‘Pack in order in the sixth and was still under 100 pitches heading into the seventh. Yenli Nolasco doubled with one down, but for once Wednesday, Davis did not get out of danger with a strikeout. After getting a pop to Spurlin at shortstop for the second out, he finished it off with a pickoff after catching the runner wandering too far.

TCHS had six hits in the game, two by Grist.

WOLFPACK 9, TIFT 2

Like Tift in the first game, North Paulding took the lead early. The Wolfpack, however, was able to add on to their initial first inning run with two more in the second.

That stood firm for North Paulding, especially as Nolasco set down his first nine batters in a row, striking out six of them.

An error plated Cade Cox in the first. One frame later, eight batted for the Wolfpack, the big play being another miscue that brought home Hayden Miller and Aiden Elkins.

The biggest inning was the fifth. Ten came to the plate this time for North Paulding and instead of errors, it was hard-hit pitches.

Collin Brightwell blasted a two-run shot to right field, scoring Nathan Rowland. Sheffield had a two-run single that delivered Cox and Wesley Moering. Cox drove in Moering for the Wolfpack to build an 8-0 lead.

Though in a big hole, Tift County was making progress elsewhere. Nolasco had to be tended to at the start of the fourth for a leg cramp and was not as effective after.

VanSumeren singled up the middle for his team’s first hit and Hembree walked. While they did not score in the fourth, they began getting to Nolasco in the fifth.

Landon Parrish mashed a 390-foot homer to the right of the batter’s eye for the Devils’ first run. Sam Pritchard snuck a ball past shortstop and moved up a base on a walk to Dorminey.

Davis doubled into the right-center gap, scoring Pritchard, but an accurate relay got Dorminey at the dish.

Both bullpens finished out the game from there. Jace Long relieved Ryan Whitley in the fourth. Graysan Del Toro threw the last two innings, giving up an unearned run in the sixth.

Tift had two runners in each of the last two frames but could not bring them home.

Five Blue Devils had a hit apiece in the second game.