AKRON (Crawford County Now) — Northmor’s magical post-season journey came to a close in the Division VI state baseball semifinals Thursday morning at 7 17 Credit Union Park by a 5-3 score.

Lake Center Christian (24-4-1) advances to the championship game, while the Golden Knights’ season ends at 25-6.

LCC opened with 3 runs in the first inning. Caleb Shelly had an RBI triple and Nathan Bryant with a sacrifice fly to left drove in a second run. Brayden Myers added an RBI single into right field.

The Golden Knights answered with a run in the top of the third on a walk and a balk allowing Brady Carr to score. Trevor Brubaker had singled to left field.

The Tigers added a run in the third.

Again, Northmor answered with a solo run in the fourth.

Billy Bowlin got a leadoff walk, stole second and moved to third on a groundout. He scored on the second balk of the game by LCC pitcher and Ohio State signee Nathan Bryant (0.66 ERA) to cut the lead to 4-2.

A running catch by Northmor left fielder Brad Bowlin turned into a double play, ending the fourth inning.

Shelly came on in relief of Bryant in the fifth. Shelly struck out a pair of Golden Knights in that frame. Brady Carr smacked a one-out single to center field but was stranded.

The Tigers added a run in the fifth on a hit batsman, a Myers single and an infield error, making it 5-2.

Brady Chapman was hit by a pitch to start the sixth inning for Northmor. Ethan Hinton singled up the middle and a wild pitch brought in Chapman making it 5-3 after six innings.

Left-hander Grant Coblentz took the mound for LCC and ended the inning with a strikeout and a flyout. Northmor went down in order in the seventh to end the game.

Jack Bowdre, Brubaker, Billy Bowlin, Hinton and Carr had hits for Northmor.

Bryant picked up the win and Coblentz recorded the save.

Brubaker took the loss, striking out 7 and walking none.

This marks the second straight state finals appearance for the Tigers. The only other trip to state for Northmor came in 1995.

Box score

Northmor                          001 101 0       3        5        3

Lake Center Christian      301 010 X       5      10       1

WP: Nathan Bryant (3 SO, 3 W)

LP: Trevor Brubaker (7 SO, 0 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (LC) Caleb Shelly.

Doubles: None.

Multiple hits: (LC) Grant Coblentz, Brayden Myers, Jacob Ranieri.

Records: Northmor 25-6; Lake Center Christian 24-4-1.

Next: Northmor season is over; Lake Center vs. Berlin Hiland (25-4), Division VI state championship, Friday, 10 a.m., at 7 17 Credit Union Park.