MANTACHIE - On Monday night, one coach decided to finally give his pitcher the ball, while the other opted to take it away from his go-to pitcher.

Ackerman High's Andrew Furr had not started a game all season due to a small cartilage tear in his left shoulder. His coach, Brad Mitchell, debated whether he should let Furr start Monday night's winner-take-all Game 3 of a MHSAA Class 2A first-round series.

Good thing he did, because the southpaw went the distance, striking out eight, walking one and allowing just three hits in the defending 2A state champion's 7-1 win at Mantachie.

"He came to me and said, 'Coach, I want the ball,' " Mitchell said of Furr, who had pitched only four innings all season prior to Monday night, "and I debated on whether or not I should give it to him.

"I asked him again in the dugout and he said, 'Yeah, I want it,' and I gave it to him."

On the other side, the Mustangs were depending on their ace, Collin Minga, to deliver them to the second round where they would face another Class 2A perennial power, Hamilton.

Both Mitchell and Mantachie coach Scott Collier used the word "bulldog" to describe the junior right-hander, who struck out 17 Ackerman hitters in his team's Game 1 victory on Thursday.

Unfortunately for Mantachie (21-4), the "bulldog" suffered his second loss of the season, as he was pulled with one out in the sixth inning, after giving up five runs on seven hits on the night.

But the junior pitcher didn't struggle too much on the mound. He struck out eight and walked just two (one intentionally) while also hitting a batter.

"He just threw 130 pitches three days ago, and he had 90 (Monday) and I didn't want to hurt him and go overboard with it," Collier said about taking Minga out of a 4-1 ballgame in the sixth inning. "I thought it was a good time to make the change at that point."

Errors prove costly

What ultimately did his team in, though, were the five errors made in the field, including two on one play in the top of the sixth that plated two runs.

The Mustangs also committed two errors in the top of the first that led to two runs.

"At times, they just didn't make plays behind him," Mitchell said after his team improved to 16-9 on the season. "That was the difference in the ballgame."

Minga drove in the Mustangs' only run with an RBI double to center.