The Starr’s Mill Panthers brought out the brooms Friday, sweeping the visiting Northside, Warner Robins Eagles 10-2 and 7-5 in the first round of the Class AAAA state playoffs.

Clutch hitting carried the Panthers (19-9) in Game 1; Starr’s Mill scored all but three of its 10 runs, including its first seven, with two outs in the opening game.

“Two-out hits were the difference,” Starr’s Mill coach Brent Moseley said. “We had some great two out hits in the first game.”

Bryan Hasse ignited Starr’s Mill’s two-out scoring with an RBI single to center field in the bottom of the third inning, making it 1-0.

After Northside's Kyle McArther tied the game with an RBI double to right field in the top of the fourth, Starr’s Mill scored three runs with two outs in the bottom half of the inning — one each on an opposite-field single by Michael Jeanes, a throwing error and a single to right field by Danny Beadling.

Kevin Gifford slashed Starr’s Mill’s lead in half with an RBI single to right field in the fifth, but Starr’s Mill answered with three runs with two outs in the bottom half of the inning; two runs came home on a throwing error on an infield single by Jeanes — Northside finished with four errors — and another scored on an infield single by Drew Johnson to make it 7-2.

A solo home run by Ed Cook in the sixth and a two-run single to center field by Jeanes in the sixth completed the scoring for the Panthers.

Starr’s Mill ace Johnson didn’t pitch his best game of the season, but he was effective; he struck out six and allowed two runs (both earned), 10 hits and one walk in seven innings.

The Panthers jumped out to an early lead in Game 2, scoring a run each on a throwing error and a sacrifice fly by Jeanes in the top of the first inning.

Northside’s Brian Wolfe laced an RBI single to left field to make it 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning, but Starr’s Mill expanded its lead to 4-1 in the second, with Myles Jaye hitting a sacrifice fly and Cook hitting an RBI double inches inside the right field line in the second.

The Eagles’ Daniel Sandoval made it a one-run game again with a sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom half of the inning.

It would be the last time that Northside would be that close, as Starr’s Mill scored three runs in the fourth to take a 7-3 lead.

Beadling led off with a triple to deep left-center field, and, three batters later, he scored on Cook’s single to left field.

Then the Panthers scored back-to-back runs on a fielding error — Northside finished with three — and a sacrifice fly by Jeanes.

Northside received an RBI double by Kurt Thornburg and an RBI groundout by Sandoval in the fourth to pull within two (7-5), but that’s as close as it would get.

Beadling was stellar in relief for the Panthers, striking out two and allowing no runs, one hit and one walk in three-plus innings to earn the victory.

Jeanes started the game for Starr’s Mill, and he struck out two and gave up five runs (two earned), four hits and two walks in three-plus innings.

Moseley was impressed with his team’s pitching in its first-round series.

“Our pitching was awesome,” Moseley said. “Drew was real good. He wasn’t as good as he can be — he was up a little bit — but he threw well. Michael was a victim of some bad defense, obviously, and Danny came in and did a great job."

Starr’s Mill will play either Lee County or Evans Wednesday in the second round.

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