There will be a Game 3 played at Bill Shelton Field.

Cullman opened its first-round playoff series on Friday with a 12-1 win against Hazel Green before falling 4-1 to the Trojans in the nightcap to set up an all-important tiebreaker.

The Class 6A No. 3 Bearcats (26-11) will host Hazel Green on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a spot in the second round.

Cullman blew Game 1 open early, striking for seven runs in the second inning.

Matt Brock, Brennen Norton and Hayden Stancil recorded back-to-back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to put the Bearcats up 3-0 before Kaleb Heatherly and Max Dueland followed with RBI singles to make it 5-0. Jake Dueland (sacrifice fly) and Hunter Brooks (groundout) picked up RBIs later in the frame.

Max Dueland added another RBI single in the fourth inning to score Heatherly, who doubled earlier in the frame, and push the Black and Gold’s advantage to 8-0.

Hazel Green got on the board in the fifth inning with a solo homer, but the Bearcats provided a grand response in the bottom half of the frame.

Zac Edwards and Paxton Ponder reached base following singles, and Norton sandwiched a hit by pitch between two outs to bring Heatherly to the plate with the bags full.

One pitch later, the contest had ended.

Heatherly crushed a deep drive over the fence in the left field — the Hazel Green outfielder didn’t even bother to turn around — for a monstrous grand slam that had Cullman’s dugout going bananas.

He finished with three hits and five RBIs to lead the offense, while Max Dueland (two RBIs) and Edwards notched two hits apiece. Ponder added a hit, and Brock, Norton, Stancil, Jake Dueland and Brooks each totaled one RBI.

Heatherly claimed the win on the mound, scattering five hits, an earned run and two strikeouts in five innings.

In Game 2, Cullman went ahead 1-0 in the second inning following a Hazel Green error that scored Max Dueland.

The Trojans, though, tied the contest in the third inning on a wild pitch and took the lead in the fourth following a solo home run. The road team then netted two insurance runs — RBI single and sacrifice fly — in the sixth frame to build a more comfortable advantage.

The Bearcats mustered just five hits in the loss and left 11 runners on base.

Max Dueland (two), Brock, Heatherly and Will Bradberry provided hits for Cullman.

Jeb Bartle went six innings on the mound, allowing seven hits and four earned runs. He struck out eight.