Even some of the most die-hard baseball fans can’t agree on what type of game is a better one: a game that ends 12-11 with six combined home runs and 13 pitchers or a 1-0 final score that has just three combined hits and both pitchers dealing complete games.

What has to be considered is that both types of games make baseball what it is.

Baseball is a strategic battle and the ridiculous, yet ever-growing war metaphors that are used when talking about sports like football really have more merit when talking about baseball.

War is not a constant battle. There are breaks that are necessary to develop strategies for the next battle. That is baseball.

Every baseball game has the potential to come down to one inning, one batter, one swing.

Most casual fans are not interested in pitching duels. They want to see fireworks and constant action because they are used to the up-and-down the court action of basketball or the hard hitting of football.

But there is something to be said about the excitement that is just under the surface of a late-inning, low-scoring game.

In a game in which nobody can stop the other team, a five-run seventh inning means nothing because the other team is hitting well and can easily respond with five runs of its own.

In a low-scoring game, both pitchers are “on.” Neither team is making any glaring mistakes unless there is brilliant pitching that gets them out of a jam. That is enough excitement in itself.

But when they do make that one mistake, the game could be over.

In the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, the Panthers held a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning of a seven-inning game.

The game had the appearance of ending up as a classic pitchers’ duel.

But, as mentioned, one mistake in a pitchers’ duel can turn a game completely upside-down.

With Casey Spears on first base, designated hitter Keiji Szalo popped up a bunt that had enough backspin to come back and stop in foul territory.

The umpire ruled Jacksonville State catcher Eric Beck had touched the ball before it went into foul territory.

As the catcher, pitcher and every Jacksonville State fan at Coaches Stadium argued with the umpire, Spears noticed that there was nobody covering third base.

He took off and made it easily and Szalo followed him and reached second base without a throw.

“It was like playing in little league again with everyone running all over the place,” Spears said.

Rather than a runner on second base with one out, Beck’s miscue and the Panthers heads-up baserunning gave Eastern a runner on second and third base with nobody out.

When the Panthers had the bases loaded with one out, Jacksonville State walked in a run.

Mark Chagnon was hit by the first pitch he saw, Erik Huber singled on the first pitch he faced and Jason Cobb followed with a first-pitch double that scored two.

On four pitches, the Panthers had turned a 2-1 pitchers’ duel into a 7-1 lead.

That is why the tension under the surface is just as exciting as wondering how far the next batter will hit it.

Because the one “swing” that ends up opening the floodgates could be the routine sacrifice bunt from a 6-foot-3-inch, 225-pound designated hitter.