CROSBY — Port Neches-Groves has been here before.

Here being down one run in a playoff series at The Ballparks in Crosby.

Despite a strong start for senior Josh Hranicky, four errors and a baserunning mistake proved costly for the reigning 5A state champions as Santa Fe, behind the arm of sophomore Rome Shubert, posted a 4-1 victory Thursday in the opener of a best-of-three area round series.

Game 2 is set for 8 tonight at Crosby. PNG, which won a doubleheader here to eliminate Tomball a year ago in the 5A Region III semifinals after a Game 1 loss (after coming from 0-1 down to beat Barbers Hill), needs a win to force Game 3 at 1 p.m. Saturday.

PNG’s Indians (20-11-3) were down 1-0 through the first inning when Grant Pfaff scored on an error pickoff attempt at third. He reached on a single.

Despite that, each of the first six outs Hranicky induced were strikeouts.

“I just wanted to go in there and throw more strikes because of my outing against Porter in Game 2 [of last week’s bi-district series],” Hranicky said. “I just wanted to prove everybody that was just a bad game.”

Hranicky worked out of more trouble after giving up a single to Brandon Allen in the second and walking three up to that point. Hranicky, who’s headed to Lamar after the season, allowed four runs — none of them earned — on five hits and walked five for the game.

“Hranicky threw well enough for us to win today,” PNG coach Scott Carter said. “He’s a high-pitch guy. … But when you have to make six or seven outs an inning because we make errors behind you, you can’t win like that. This game is not on Hranicky. This game is on our defense.”

On the other side, Shubert was perfect with three strikeouts through two frames for Santa Fe (24-9). He had five Ks and allowed an earned run on four hits in a complete-game win.

Hranicky ended Shubert’s shutout bid in the seventh. He singled to center with one out and scored on a Khristian Curtis single. But PNG left its fourth and fifth runners on base.

Shubert reached on a bunt in the third after a throw from the plate got past first base. Gregory Adams hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Josh Blankenship, and later stole home plate as Brandon Allen’s attempt to steal second base threw off the PNG defense.

The Santa Fe Indians’ last run came in the fifth when Allen, who was hit by a pitch, scored on a passed ball.

Austin Schaper worked 1 1/3 innings and gave up the passed-ball run on two singles.He walked a batter in the seventh before Carson Roccaforte induced pop-up and struck out a batter in the sixth.

Brandon Petix went 2 for 3 to lead PNG at the plate, but a baserunning mistake on his fifth-inning single led to him being thrown out, and Cameron Stansbury was eventually stranded at third. Stansbury had a single in the third.

“Our heads weren’t here today,” Hranicky said. “[Carter] told us we just need to figure it out and fix it. It’s going to work itself out. I know that’s not our team, and I know we can do better than that.”

Dylan Rodgers and Caden Rodgers also had singles for Santa Fe.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews