Athens is headed to a winner-take-all tiebreaker.
The Golden Eagles split a pair of second-round games with No. 8 Gardendale in the Class 6A playoffs on Friday, claiming the opener 3-2 before falling in the nightcap 5-0.
The teams will duke it out on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Athens (24-12) triumphed in Game 1 despite just three hits.
The home team notched a 2-0 lead in the second inning following a Gardendale error on a fly ball from Jaylen Malone. The Rockets cut into their deficit with a solo homer in the fourth, but the Golden Eagles got the run back in the fifth on an RBI single by Caiden Dumas.
Gardendale made it 3-2 in the sixth inning, but Grayson Hays stranded a pair of runners to end the threat and then worked around two walks in the seventh to seal the deal.
Hays scattered eight hits and three strikeouts in the complete-game effort. Dumas, Jack Elliott and Hudson Marks notched a hit apiece.
The Rockets, though, struck for four second-inning runs in Game 2 to take control and send the series to a deciding tiebreaker.
Dumas had two hits, while Marks, Riley Miller, Nash Hargrave, Chase Taylor and Jaret Johnson had one apiece.