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Never flinch.

The Gordon Lee Trojans did all three on Wednesday and, as a result, the Navy-and-White will have a chance to hoist their fifth overall state baseball championship and their first since 2019 on Monday after a hard-fought 3-1 Game 3 win over Vidalia to claim the Class A Division I state semifinal series.

"Our backs were against the wall again, like they were in the first round, but no flinch," head coach Mike Dunfee said. "They just keep playing the game. That what this team does. They keep playing to just see what happens. I'm super proud of them and super proud to be their coach."

After a tough 2-0 loss in Game 1 on Tuesday, followed by a 13-1 romp in the nightcap that didn't finish until well past midnight, Game 3 had an eerily familiar pattern to the opener with the Trojans getting runners on base, but unable to find ways to get them in.

Gordon Lee (37-3) left six runners stranded in the first four innings, including leaving the bases full in the fourth, as 20th-seeded Vidalia (21-16) kept finding ways to keep the Trojans off the board.

The Indians looked as if they would take the lead in the top of the first. A single, a hit batsman and a wild pitch put two in scoring position with two outs. Another pitch got past catcher J.R. Zeimet as Vidalia's Cayden Nance came racing for home. However, GL starting pitcher Jackson Scali collected the throw from Zeimet, dove and beat Nance to the plate for a tag to end the inning in dramatic fashion.

The Trojans were able to go up 1-0 in the fourth as Maddox Millard worked his way for a bases-loaded walk, but Vidalia got out of the jam without any more damage and the Indians responded by tying things up in the top of the fifth.

A leadoff walk to Ryan Brantley and a sacrifice bunt by Henry Adams set the table for Jake McCaw, who singled in Brantley. Vidalia went on to put runners at second and third, but GL first baseman Garrett Ross was able to smother a grounder before stepping on the bag to end the threat.

The bottom of the fifth began with a leadoff single by Scali as Veer Patel, Vidalia's Game 2 starter, came on to replace Dawson Steweart, who battled for four-plus innings. Zeimet was hit with a pitch as courtesy runners Dyllan Currie and Braxton Daniel were on with no outs. But back-to-back flyballs held the runners on base and Ross followed with another flyball, this one to rightfield, as the Indians appeared to have escaped danger yet again.

However, in a moment of great fortune for the hosts and terrible luck for the visitors, the ball was dropped, allowing both runners to come flying around the bases for perhaps the biggest two runs of the season to date. Kaden Ellis followed with a single, but the Indians were able to throw out Ross at the plate to prevent another run.

Vidalia came right back in the top of the sixth to put runners on the corners with two outs, but centerfielder Brock Crutchfield made a great running catch on a shallow flyball to end the frame and protect the lead.

After the Trojans left two more runners on in the home half of the sixth, Vidalia put two on with one out before Ellis came into replace Scali on the hill. That brought up Nance representing the go-ahead run and he just got his bat on an 0-2 pitch, resulting in a swinging bunt down the first base line.

Daniel, who took over catching duties to start the sixth, pounced on the ball and threw to Ross at first, but the ball got away, allowing a run to score. However, the home plate umpire quickly ruled that Nance ran too far inside the baseline, which affected the throw, and called Nance out for interference, a call that was held up after a meeting of all the umpires seconds later.

The runners were sent back to first and second, taking the run off the board, and Brady Little gloved a drive off the bat of Patel in right for the final out.

"We had some opportunities today and we couldn't take advantage offensively, but then some breaks went our way," Dunfee explained. "You have to get some breaks and we got some (late) that helped us. You just have to keep playing the game."

Scali, a senior, went 6.1 innings and gave up just the one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks, while Ellis recorded the save.

"Scali told me after Game 2 that he wanted the ball (for Game 3) and we talked it over as a staff," Dunfee explained. "He was fired up and he shoved as long as could. That's the longest outing he's had and it might have been the first start he's had all year, but it was awesome that he wanted it."

Little had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4, while Peyton Groce added a double.

That sets up one final three-game series, this one at AdventHealth Stadium in Rome, between the top-seeded Trojans and third-seeded Pepperell (31-8), who swept second-seeded Jeff Davis in Hazelhurst, 5-1 and 4-1, to advance to the title series.

Like Gordon Lee, the Dragons also survived a pair of three-game series, one to 30th-seeded Thomasville to begin the postseason and the other against sixth-seeded Bleckley County in the quarterfinals.

"It's pretty surreal," Dunfee said about getting back to the state finals. "Maybe that's because we're so tired right now, but it's fun though and super exciting for our kids because I think our kids really deserve it. I think Vidalia deserved it too. They're a heck of a team. (Ben Beck) has coached them up well. They've got some young kids and they're going to be a team to reckon with in the future. Heck, they're good right now. Fortunately, we were able to win and I'm just so happy for our kids."

The first two games of the championship series will be played as a doubleheader Monday, starting at 5 p.m. Game 3, if needed, would be played Tuesday at 12 noon.

This will be the seventh time in its last eight seasons in Class A Public/Division I that Gordon Lee will play for the state crown.

The Trojans were runners-up in 2013 and 2014 and were runners-up again in 2017 after a two-year stint in Class AA. They won back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019 before COVID wiped out the playoffs altogether in 2020.

GL got back to the finals again in 2021, finishing second before falling in the third round of the postseason in 2022. They spent the two previous seasons in Class AAA.