HAMLER — Missed opportunities were the biggest concern for the Wynford Royals. Millbury Lake, on the other hand, took advantage of its opportunities.

It proved to be the difference in the game.

The Royals left 11 runners on base, scoring just one time. The Flyers, on the other hand, got key hits in crucial times to come away with a 6-1 win in the semifinal game of the Division III regional tournament at Patrick Henry High School Thursday afternoon.

With the win, Lake (26-4) advances to today’s regional final and will face Coldwater at 5 p.m. The Cavaliers downed Highland, 4-2, in Thursday’s second game.

Wynford finished its season with a 21-9 record after starting the season with a 1-3 record.

Coach Tom Smith pointed out that the four Wynford seniors — Spencer Miller, Kaiden Blair, Grant McGuire, and Brett Crall — finished their career with 76 wins, winning 15, 20, 20 and 21 games in their four years.

“We had a great season and these four seniors; they are awesome,” Smith said. “We started out slow; some of those guys play basketball, so we started slow. We were 1-3 and 5-5 at one point. Since then, we really came on from that point.”

But the name of the game Thursday was missed chances. The Royals left runners in scoring position in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. But in each case, Lake starter Drew Tailback shut the door each time.

Taiblik tossed a complete game seven hitter, striking out five, walking one and he hit three batters.

“Drew’s a bulldog on the mound,” Lake coach Casey Witt said. “He’s competitive. You don’t win 11 games in a season in Ohio not having those qualities. He just really bared down, and the defense bucked up behind him.”

Smith felt that his team hit the ball well against Taiblik.

“Their pitcher is going to Toledo, and we did pretty good against him, I thought.” Smith said.

“We hit the ball well; we did what we wanted to do,” Smith added. “We kept the game close, and we fell apart a little in the sixth inning and gave them a crooked number. But they pitched out of jams. He did get out of the jams by himself.”

Miller, the Wynford starter, permitted just two runs and four hits over the first five innings before giving up four in the sixth.

“Spencer pitched great,” Smith said. “He pitched like always. I think he was at 50-something pitches through four innings. Low pitch count, like normal.

“For four years, he’s been our number one; he moves it around and hitters just don’t seem to square it up on him. He had a great career,” Smith added.

Lake got a run in the second on a sacrifice fly from Caleb Tobias and added a run in the in the third on an RBI single from Gavin Kohlhofer.

The Flyers got four straight hits to open the sixth to seal the win.

“With our roster makeup and our athleticism, we like our chances to score when we get guys on base,” Witt said. “And it kinda allows us to play our brand of baseball.

“In the second, third and sixth innings fully proved that to be true,” Witt added.

Wynford got on the board in the seventh when Miller was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a McGuire double.

But missed chances did the Royals in.

“We had best against best there in the fifth inning; we had Grant (McGuire) up there with the bases loaded and one out and he hit a little flare that the shortstop made a play on,” Smith said. “If it goes through, we would have tied the game at 2-2 and then who knows.”

Box score

Wynford              000 000 1       1      7      1

Millbury Lake    011 004 X       6      8      1

WP: Drew Taiblik (5 SO, 1 W)

LP: Spencer Miller (1 SO, 1 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (W) Grant McGuire.

Multiple hits: (ML) Ryan Wagner, Jay Blazevich; (W) Grant McGuire.

Records: Wynford 21-9; Millbury Lake 26-4.

Next: Wynford season over; Millbury Lake vs. Coldwater at Patrick Henry Division III regional final, Friday, 5 p.m.