By Lonnie McMillan
Daily Chief-Union

SYCAMORE — Once Mohawk got a lead, it settled in on defense and eventually pulled with a 10-4 victory against Crestline in a Division IV sectional final game Thursday at Mohawk.

The Warriors scored answered the Bulldogs two runs in the top of the second inning by scoring five in the bottom and did not trail again. The No. 3 seed in the district, Mohawk (11-11) won its fifth straight sectional championship and advances to the district semifinals to face No. 2 South Central, which edged Lucas, 5-4.

“I thought that we would be able to put some runs up today, and we did a good job of having a big inning,” Mohawk coach Eric Hoover said. “We needed something to help us relax, and a big inning helped us relax defensively, and I think we made pretty much every play after that.”

Two runners reached on errors to start the top of the second, and Crestline (6-9) cached in with a pair of unearned runs. The lead did not last long, however.

After a Kedryk Leeth single to lead off the bottom of the second inning, Kurtus Ekleberry hit a shallow fly ball into left field. The left fielder and shortstop collided, and the ball popped out of Brandon Collins’ mitt. Bryce Kirian followed with an RBI double to get the Warriors on the board, and Tyler Hayman’s single tied the game.

Crestline could not make a play on Landen Snyder’s slow roller, and Kirian scored. Cole Widmer’s groundout scored another run, and Parker Brown followed with a sacrifice fly.

“That’s been our problem all year,” Crestline coach Steve Garberich said. “We give up that big inning. We’ll make a couple bonehead plays and make an error and it just explodes on us. That’s probably the story of the season – just inconsistency defensively.”

The Bulldogs battled back to within one with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Logan Ronk doubled, took third on an error and scored on Ty Clark’s groundout in the third. In the fourth, Brandon Collins walked, advanced on another walk and a wild pitch and scored on Zac Hatfield’s grounder.

Really quickly, though, Mohawk regained control with a four-run fourth inning that began with Kirian’s second double. Hayman reached on an error before Snyder upped his RBI total to three with a two-run single. Leeth later added a two-run double.

“We had a couple opportunities to make plays early in the game and had a couple errors on plays that we could have made,” Hoover said. “There were probably nerves in there. I was glad that we had an opportunity to bounce back.”

The Warriors scored their final run in the fifth inning when Kirian was hit by a pitch and scored his third run when Widmer doubled.

Hatfield was the losing pitcher, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

“Zac pitched well,” Garberich said. “The strike zone was a little tight both ways. A couple times we had to come back to fastballs. He throws a nice curve, and he had to put it on a platter for them at times. They hit the ball well and we made a few errors that really cost us. If we don’t make some errors, it’s a tight ball game.”

Ronk finished with two hits for Crestline. Leeth, Kirian and Snyder had two this each for Mohawk.

Widmer (4-4) picked up the win, giving up one earned run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts in four innings. Trey Combs pitched three scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits and a walk with one strikeout.

Mohawk may add a game or two to its schedule before district action, but the Warriors, who have won four of their last five games, should be ready to compete next week, Hoover said.

“We’ve been playing much better the second half of the year,” he said. “I think we can go there and certainly have a chance with the pitching we have and some guys are starting to swing the bat better than we were the first half of the year. We can certainly go there and compete. We’re looking forward to it.”

The Warriors and Trojans meet in the second semifinal game at about 4 p.m. Wednesday at Heise Park in Galion.

Crestline   021 100 0    4   5   5

Mohawk   050 410 X   10  10  4

WP: Widmer (4-4); LP: Hatfield.

2B: Kirian (M) 2, Widmer (M), L. Ronk (C).