Enterprise hosted Union Friday night in the opening round of the 2A state playoffs, which ended in dramatic fashion.

Tied at four in the bottom of the seventh, it took Enterprise eight innings to pull out the 5-4 victory.

Enterprise jumped out in front of Union in the bottom of the first as sophomore Landon Gartman drove in the first game of the night on an RBI single. Enterprise added two more runs in the bottom of the second with freshman Austin Fuglar nailing a two-run RBI triple. With the bases loaded, Union got out of the inning before Enterprise could add more runs.

Union threatened to score in the top of the third with runners on the corners, but Gartman struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Enterprise added another run in the bottom of the third from senior Reese Brocato with an RBI groundout.

Union scored its first run of the night in the top of the fourth on sophomore Austin Tate’s RBI single with two outs.

Union tied the game at four in the top of the seventh. Freshman T. J. Vance started the rally with an RBI single. Union tied the game on mental mistakes in the field by Enterprise, scoring two runs on back-to-back pitches that got away from the catcher.

With one out, junior Tanner Waldrop stepped up to the plate and blasted a walk-off home run, giving Enterprise the 5-4 victory.

Gartman pitched 6.1 innings, striking out 13 batters for Enterprise. Waldrop and Fugler also pitched in relief. Junior Lane Hanna pitched six innings for Union, giving up three hits, four runs (none earned), six walks and three strikeouts. Eighth-grader Jaylon Buckley pitched 1.1 innings of relief for Union.

“It was a very hard-fought game. We got lucky and made plays when we needed them. Landon Gartman and Austin Fugler pitched well for us,” Enterprise head coach Cass Brister said. “I told Tanner Waldrop he needed to step up and he did and his home run was unbelievable. This was a great win, but now we need to regroup for tomorrow’s game.”

Union 7, Enterprise 3

After an exiting win in extras Friday night, the Enterprise Yellow Jackets could not get the sweep in game two, as Union forced a game three with the 7-3 win.

“I thought we came out very flat today,” Brister said. “We didn’t hit the ball well and they had one big inning. Those are hard to bounce back from when you aren’t hitting well.”

The bats did not come like they did Friday, as Enterprise only had five hits on the day and only put up three runs to show for it. Senior Cade Cangemi led the way for Enterprise with two hits on the day. Gartman, Richardson and Brocato each had one RBI on the day.

Freshman Colby Beard got the start for Enterprise and pitched six innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on six hits, no walks and two strikeouts.

Enterprise will host the winner-take-all game three Monday night at 6 p.m.