ALVARADO — Lake Belton fell behind early and its offense never quite clicked Thursday as McKinney North put the Broncos in their first series hole this postseason.

Two days later, Lake flipped that script, but the patient Bulldogs had the last say, outlasting the Broncos in a tight pitcher’s duel to finish off a sweep in their best-of-three Class 5A regional semifinal series.

Jacob Stockford legged out an infield single with two outs in the seventh inning when he beat third baseman RJ Hunt’s throw to first on a grounder to allow Talon Pate to score the winning run and lift North to a 2-1 walkoff victory in a game that was postponed a day by lightning and one that Lake led by a run after the first inning.

With one out, Pate drew a six-pitch walk to snap a streak of eight straight outs recorded by Lake Belton starter Maverik Maddux then stole second and tagged to third on Connor Leos’ fly out to right to set up the climactic conclusion. Pate was the first Bulldogs runner to reach scoring position since his fourth-inning single and stolen base.

“It was a tough ballgame all the way around. I thought Maverik threw the ball really well. I thought we competed really well. They just made a play or two more than we did in the end. And that was kind of the story of the series. They played just a little bit better than we did,” Lake Belton head coach Chris Peacock said. “When you get to this point, there’s all good teams left, and it’s a tough pill to swallow, but they just played a little bit better than we did.”

North (17-12-1) had six hits and limited the Broncos (26-7-2) to four to extend its season-best winning streak to eight in a game that Maddux and Bulldogs starter Austin Sayman mostly controlled.

Lake trailed by four runs in the seventh inning of the series opener before finally scoring in a 4-1 setback but struck with urgency Saturday.

Cameron Bartz worked an 0-2 count into a one-out single then stole second and slid gleefully across the plate when Cooper Mees’ liner back at Sayman glanced off his glove and into center field.

Bartz emphatically clapped his hands together as he gave the Broncos their first lead of the series and, though they left a pair of runners on after RJ Hunt followed Mees’ single with a walk, the Broncos forced Sayman to throw his share of early, high-stress pitches.

But Sayman — who struck out 16 in an area-round start against Frisco Emerson — was up to the task, keeping Lake off the board from there until he hit his pitch limit in the sixth, though the Broncos continued to threaten early.

Jory Holland punched a grounder through the right side for a single in the second then was stranded with Sayman’s strikeout of Bryce Davis, after which Lake Belton left the bases loaded the following frame.

Mees dropped a soft fly into shallow left that a trio of North fielders couldn’t track and took second base for a two-out double when the ball took a generous bounce behind Bulldogs left fielder Leos. Hunt and Braxtan Cope followed with walks, but Sayman got Cole Mikulas to fly out to left to snuff out the rally.

Mees finished 2-for-3 to pace Lake at the plate, while Cade Antosca went 2-for-3 to lead North.

The Bulldogs reset the tally at 1-all in the bottom of the third when Antosca — who led off with an opposite-field single — ran through the stop sign from his third base coach to score from second base on Gage Bradley’s single into center.

“We had chances there and just didn’t get it done, and it wasn’t for a lack of fight or anything like that,” said Peacock, whose team stranded seven runners to North’s five. “I thought we competed hard. It just didn’t happen for us, unfortunately, and that’s part of what hurts. That’s part of what makes baseball tough.”

After a 1-2-3 fourth, the Broncos pressured Sayman again in the fifth with Bartz’s leadoff walk, though it didn’t lead to a run, before the right-hander hit his pitch limit when he closed out a 1-2-3 sixth by getting Zavian Rodriguez to fly out to left. Sayman finished with seven strikeouts and four walks while yielding four hits in a no-decision.

Cameron Busch tossed a nine-pitch seventh to pick up the win in relief after getting a pair of fly outs and a strikeout of Davis to close Lake Belton’s top of the seventh.

Maddux, meanwhile, settled in after North scattered five hits through the first four innings, retiring eight straight from the end of the fourth to the start of the seventh before Pate’s walk set the stage for the victory. Lake Belton’s junior right-hander struck out three and walked three in a complete game.

“Really proud to have just been around this group for the last three years,” said Peacock, whose team won the District 16-5A title with an undefeated league run. “There was a lot of things off the field that this group had to overcome and I felt like they did and even exceeded expectations, honestly, with what they did and what they accomplished. Really proud of those 15 seniors and I know that they’re going to go on and do great things and hopefully the guys we have coming back will use this as motivation to grow and get better.”