And it all comes down to this.

 Picayune and Pascagoula will face off in a one game, winner take all

 showdown today at 2 p.m., at Ingalls Field for the Class A South State

 prep baseball championship and the right to play for the state title.

 The Maroon Tide evened the best-of-three series Friday night at home,

 with a 7-1 win. The Panthers, the defending state champions, won game one Thursday night at home 1-0.

 Picayune moved to 16-17 overall with the win, as Jacob Taylor hurled a

 complete game four hitter.

 “I felt like we would come out and play better than we dd the night

 before,” Picayune head coach Cayne Stockstill said. “They (Pascagoula)

 are still the champions. We still have to go down there and try to win

 another one.”

 Pascagoula, now 20-13, fell behind 3-0 early and never recovered.

 The Maroon Tide scored those three runs on non hits, as Nick Marble

 drew a bases-loaded walk, Hayden falls drove in a run on a ground out

 and another run scored on a passed ball.

Alen Cowart’s RBI-single in the third proved to be the only run of the

 night for the Panthers.

 Picayune quickly responded, as Mark Wood walked to lead off the

 fourth, advanced to third on a single by Taylor and later scored on a

 wild pitch to make it 4-1.

 Brady Warden scored in the fifth on a Panther throwing error to make

 it 5-1.

 The Maroon Tide added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth, including

 one on a single by Peyton Lee.

 Lee had three hits to pace Picayune, while Warden and Taylor added a

 pair of singles each to the winning effort.

 Taylor,a Pearl River Community College signee, struck out six and

 walked none in earning the win. It was his fifth straight win,

 including four consecutive in the playoffs.

 Jeremy Knight took the loss for the Panthers. Drew Dunn relieved him

 in the eventful second stanza.

 The winner of this series will face either New Hope or Hernando for

 the state championship next week.

 This will mark the second consecutive season that Pascagoula will host

 a third and deciding game in the South State finals. Last season,

 shortstop Tracy Hadley, also, along with Taylor and Cowart a PRCC

 signee, smashed a walk-off two run homer as the Panther beat Long

 Beach.