After dropping the first game to visiting Shoals Christian 14-4, ABS needed a strong pitching performance to keep their season alive.

A.J. Price delivered, hurling six shutout innings in a complete game four-hitter. He used a bevy of off-speed pitches, baffling the Flame the entire game as the Trojans cruised to an 11-0 victory.

“A no-hitter last week, a shutout this week, the sophomore is coming through for us,” Athens head coach Bill Murrell said. “This was his eighth playoff start; he has ice-water in his veins.”

Price was only threatened in the first inning, and the Trojan defense backed him up in a big way. With runners at second and third and one out, a sharp grounder was hit down to third base. Ryan Morring wheeled and threw home, nailing UNA-signee Daniel Almon at the plate. With two outs, ABS second baseman Will Chumbley leaped to snare a line drive, preserving the scoreless game.

“My arm felt good and my team really backed me up,” Price said.

Chumbley’s RBI-double in the next inning gave ABS a 2-0 lead. Brent Westbrook’s sacrifice fly scored Connor Brown with the first run.

ABS scored another run in the third inning, but exploded for six runs in the fourth to put the game out of reach.

Will Stinnett singled with the bases loaded, scoring Morring and Jonathan Winland. Jordan Pugh followed with an RBI single, plating Joseph Baker. Troy Steelman doubled home Stinnett and Pugh, and then scored on Westbrook’s single, giving Athens a 9-0 lead extinguishing all hope for the Flame.

That was all Price needed as he cruised the rest of the way for the win. ABS would add two more in the sixth. Brown singled home Pugh and later stole home to make it 11-0.

“Price did a good job for them,” Shoals Christian head coach Jason Anderson said. “He threw strikes, dropped down some and did a good job against us all game.”

Stinnett, Pugh and Brown led the 11-hit Trojan attack with two hits each.

It was a turnaround from the first game for ABS, which was the first loss the Troajns have had in the playoffs.

The Trojans scored four runs in the opening game thanks to a pair of two-run home runs by Brown.

Brown gave ABS a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the Flame put six runs on the board before the Trojans would score again.

Brown’s second home run came in the fifth inning.