McKINNEY — Argyle’s baseball team gave its fans a bit of a scare on Saturday afternoon, dropping Game 2 of a best-of-three series against Paris North Lamar to set up a winner-take-all Game 3.

But the drama ended quickly, as Argyle scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and went on to win the decisive game 6-3.

The Eagles advance to the Class 3A Region II area round to face Lake Worth on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Lake Worth in a one-game playoff.

Game 2 was scheduled to start at noon, but was delayed until 2:30 p.m. because of rain. After winning Game 1 on Thursday, 4-1, the Eagles (20-11) were set to advance in the event of a rainout, and Argyle head coach Ricky Griffin said that might have affected his team’s focus in Game 2.

“I think this morning what happened was, when you’re supposed to play at 12 and the kids know if it gets rained out we advance, I think I was actually worried if we’d come out focused, and we didn’t,” Griffin said.

The Eagles committed five errors in Game 1, allowed five unearned runs, and lost 7-5 to the Panthers (18-11).

Game 3 was a completely different story.

Sophomore pitcher Storm Griffin started the game and threw five scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the top of the sixth after Argyle took a 6-0 lead. He went on to pitch a complete game.

“When it’s 6-0, you kind of stop throwing to the corners and start throwing more down the middle to avoid walking guys,” Ricky Griffin said. “They’re a good hitting team, and we probably caught too much of the middle of the plate of a couple of times.”

After Storm Griffin gave up a two-run triple to Tyler Walston, he and his defense relaxed to retire the next two batters and end the Panthers’ threat before retiring them in order in the seventh.

“The great thing about that was that after the big hit we got a ground ball, and that’s what you want after something like that,” Ricky Griffin said. “You don’t want a walk or anything else like that.”

The Eagles’ big inning came in the bottom of the fourth when they scored five runs to take control after nursing a 1-0 lead through the first three innings. The Eagles sent 11 batters to the plate, leading off with three straight singles by Jake Sizelove, Jay Gonzales and Jake Katzen.

Then they got some help, as the Panthers hit two straight batters with the bases full to score runs before Layton Lowry hit an RBI single.

And while the Eagles’ defense wasn’t flawless in Game 3, committing three errors, Argyle made up for them with some key defensive plays that eliminated a few North Lamar base runners.

Griffin picked off David Bozarth twice – once in the second inning at second base, and once in the fourth at first base.

Then, in the fifth inning, the Panthers led off with a walk, and followed with a single to center field, before Argyle’s Lance Sutton threw arope that caught the runner trying to go from first to third base.

“We’ve been solid defensively all year long,” Ricky Griffin said. “We didn’t show it today, but we’re a young team and they’ve been making those plays all year long.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com .

Game 2

Paris North Lamar 7, Argyle 5

WP – Logan Parsons. LP – Austin Aune. Sv – Sinjin Smith. 2B – NL: Logan Parsons, Cody Sellers. A: Trent Cantrell, Jay Gonzales, Matt Thompson. HR – NL: Cody Sellers. Records – Paris North Lamar (18-10). Argyle (19-11).

Game 3

Argyle 6, Paris North Lamar 3

WP – Storm Griffin. LP – Sinjin Smith. 2B – A: Jay Gonzales. 3B – NL: Tyler Walston. Records – Paris North Lamar (18-11). Argyle (20-11).