The Port Neches-Groves Indians lost for the first time in 14 games Wednesday and it put the team in a 0-1 hole in the Class 5A Region III Area round.
Santa Fe ended the Indians win streak with a 6-1 at Baytown Sterling High School, a spot that has doomed PN-G over the last two playoff runs.
The two teams return to Sterling at 7 p.m. tonight for Game 2. Game 3, if necessary, is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sterling.
PN-G (21-7) got five innings from Carter Henry. Henry gave up five runs on four hits with six strikeouts and four walks.
Santa Fe’s (21-10) Jacob Blankenship pitched all seven innings and gave up a run on six hits with nine strikeouts and one walk.
Henry scored PN-G’s lone run in the fourth inning when Ryan Leckich had a sacrifice fly to cut the Santa Fe lead down to 2-1. Henry had reached third with a triple.
Santa Fe went on to score three runs in the fifth and tacked on one more in the sixth.
Chase Warren had a double for the Indians.
Leckich is expected to start Friday for PN-G. The future Baylor Bear is 7-2 on the season with a 1.28 ERA with 74 strikeouts.