Down 1-0 in its Region IV-6A quarterfinal series against New Braunfels, Reagan had no choice. The Rattlers had to  beat the Unicorns on Friday night and force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Saturday afternoon or have their season come to an end.

In the end, Reagan rose to the occasion, getting past New Braunfels 9-5 at North East Sports Park to tie their series at one game apiece and set up a decisive Game 3 at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon at SAISD’s Reeves Diamonds.

The Unicorns (31-8-1) took the opener 2-1 on their home field Thursday night.

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The winner of the series will take on O'Connor (23-8) in the regional semifinals next weekend. The Panthers closed out their series with Laredo Alexander with a 2-0 win Friday night, capping a two-game sweep.

"The kids came out and did everything I could ask for," Reagan head coach Chans Chapman said. "They came out and took care of business and now we get to play (Saturday)."

Reagan (31-8-1) jumped on New Braunfels in the bottom of the second inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring nine runs on eight hits, a walk and a hit batsman to open up a 9-0 advantage.

The offensive onslaught chased New Braunfels starter Luke Holt, who was tagged for seven runs (six earned) on six hits with one strikeout in just 1⅓ innings. Lyncoln Shaffer — the third pitcher New Braunfels used in the first two innings — finally was able to get out of the inning and keep Reagan off the scoreboard, throwing three innings of scoreless relief, allowing four hits with two walks and a strikeout.

Trailing 9-0, New Braunfels could have easily packed it in and prepared for a Game 3 on Saturday. However, the Unicorns — which had to go three games in the area round against Dripping Springs last week — showed its fighting spirit, taking advantage of a walk, a pair of errors and a two-run double from Clayton Namken to score three runs in the top of the third to trim the Reagan lead to 9-3. That rally ended the night for Reagan starting pitcher Kaleb Rogers, who gave up three unearned runs on one hit with two strikeouts and a walk in 2⅔ innings.

It stayed 9-3 until the top of the fifth, when New Braunfels strung together two walks, a wild pitch and a two-out, two-run single by Namken to pull the Unicorns to within 9-5. However, Reagan reliever Cody Pictrowski was able to quiet the New Braunfels bats after that, retiring four of the final five batters he faced and allowing no hits over his final 1⅓ innings. Pictrowski gave up two earned runs on one hit with five strikeouts and two walks in his 3⅓ innings of relief to earn the win.

"I'm not sure what happened (with Rogers)," Chapman said. "He's been so good for us all year long, and he was just missing on some of his pitches tonight. But (Pictrowski) really was able to come in and pitch well. He's been good for us for most of the year, coming in and getting outs when we needed them."

Elias Leon led the Reagan offense, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs. Isaiah Robledo and Caleb Crider each had two hits and two RBIs for the Rattlers, who finished with 12 hits and had eight different players get at least one hit in the win.

New Braunfels head coach Bobby Alford, whose team is 12-2 in its last 14 games, said he knows his team will be ready to play on Saturday.

"Things really could've gone bad after we got down 9-0," Alford said. "A lot of Reagan's hits just found spots or were bunts, things like that. But our kids fought and got after it, and we were able to get at least some of it back. We've said we've been in one-game playoff situations for the last six weeks, so (Saturday) won't be any different. We've just got to go out and give ourselves a chance at it."

Namken had two of the Unicorns' three hits, finishing 2 for 4 with a double and four RBIs.