CAIRO — With senior left-hander Brandon Love unable to pitch with tendonitis, Burke County needed a strong encore performance from Trent Hillis on Saturday.

The senior right-hander rose to the occasion, limiting Cairo to two hits in four innings, striking out eight Syrupmakers and pitching the Bears into the second round of the Class AAA playoffs 7-0 at Jackie Robinson Field.

Hillis stuck out 13 and allowed just five hits in the first game of the best-of-three series.

“He had a great series,” Burke County coach Sean Tiernan said. “This was the first time we’ve played a three-game series in two days, and we’re not used to this heat, either.

“He really did a great job stepping up. With (Love) hurting, he had to step in there and did an absolutely phenomenal job for us.”

Added Cairo coach Ron Best: “He’s a very good pitcher and he gets the credit. Obviously, we’re disappointed that we didn’t put up more of a fight against him and make some more adjustments.

“He did a really good job against us these two days and we weren’t able to hit him.”

The Bears (17-12) gave Hillis a boost, scoring four in the top of the first to pull away from Cairo, which ends the Region 1-AAA champions’ season at 15-12.

Burke County took advantage of a pair of Jeremy Crosby walks, a hit batter and an infield single in the four-run first, which ended with a two-run single from Hillis. He was thrown out trying to advance to second.

“We knew going in our starting pitching was suspect, and it has been all year,” Best said. “We don’t have an ace to throw out there. We just have guys who want to go out there and try to throw strikes for us.

“All three games, our starting pitching wasn’t that good, and it was very unfortunate that we fell behind 4-0 against a pitcher of his caliber.”

Added Tiernan: “That was our purpose right there coming off the bus was to jump on them.

“When we went out there and jumped on top of them, I felt very confident.”

The early onslaught was all Hillis needed, allowing lone singles in the third to Tracy Asbell and fourth to Bradley Jones. The Syrupmakers didn’t have a baserunner reach second until an error by Burke County shortstop Cole Thames with one out in the seventh.

The Bears knocked Crosby out of the game with three more runs in the third on a double, two singles and a walk. Courtesy runner Phillip Hayden was thrown out at the plate by Dillon Sholar to end the inning.