GRAND PRAIRIE — In a pressure-packed situation with their season on the line, the Guyer Wildcats put their best foot forward on Tuesday night, beating Granbury 10-2 in a one-game playoff at QuikTrip Park to advance to the Class 4A Region I quarterfinals.

The area round, which was condensed to one game because of the recent swine flu scare, brought with it a tense approach.

K.J. Alexander

“It’s one of those deals, and it’s what I told the players, I told them it’s basically Game 3, it’s as simple as that. It’s do or die,” Guyer head coach Johnny Kinzy said. “Fortunately, we get to play in the next round now.”

The Wildcats (26-4) will meet Fort Worth Arlington Heights in the regional quarterfinals, which will likely be a best-of-three series at a site and time to be determined.

The first four innings were basically a stalemate between the two teams, as the Wildcats were able to score the first run in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by K.J. Alexander, but other than that it was a pitching duel between Granbury’s Jared Hickey and Guyer’s Brad Kott-man.

Then came the top of the fifth inning.

The Wildcats scored four runs in the frame and chased Hickey from the mound in the process as Kottman, Blake Gipson and Alexander each had RBIs in the inning — Alexander’s coming on a double.

Kottman went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, Alexander went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Gipson and freshman outfielder Cole Fiola each added two RBIs as the Guyer offensive output was well-distributed.

“The key is — definitely in the playoffs — pitching, defense and clutch hitting, and we were lucky enough to have all three of those tonight,” said Kinzy, whose team had no errors.

Kottman (12-0) labored at times on the mound, but still didn’t have much trouble, as he threw 114 pitches in 5 2-3 innings, giving up five walks and striking out six while giving up seven hits. He gave way to starting shortstop Tucker Butler, who went 1 1-3 innings while going 1-for-2 at the plate with three walks, three stolen bases and three runs.

Kinzy said Kottman’s stuff was great, which was evident early on as he fanned four batters in the first three innings, and also used his stealth pickoff move to nail two Granbury runners on the base paths.

“His velocity was good,” Kinzy said. “Because of that, he started getting some pitches up in the zone. They [Granbury] did a good job of working him deep in counts and staying alive with foul balls. He had good stuff, though. I just took him out when he had nothing left.”

The Wildcats were able to end any doubt in the game when they put up five runs in the top of the sixth and batted around.

The key hit in the inning came on a two-run double by Fiola, which chased the Pirates’ third pitcher of the night.

And while the Wildcats have now advanced three rounds deep into the playoffs in their first-ever postseason appearance, Kinzy said he loves his team’s approach to the “third season.”

“The best thing about this team is they are a great team in the fact that by no means there is no celebrating after games,” Kinzy said. “We’re excited about winning games. There’s no dogpiles. We’re just excited to go to the next round and keep going on and on and on. We’re excited about playing this weekend.”

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

Guyer 10, Granbury 2

WP – Brad Kottman. LP – Jared Hickey. 2B – GU: Oscar Aloyo, K.J. Alexander, Cole Fiola, Brad Kottman. GR: Tres Galvan, Cody Daffan. Records – Guyer (26-4). Granbury (19-12).