GALION — The Division IV district semifinal baseball battle between Seneca East and Mohawk figured to be close.

After all, the Tigers blanked Mohawk, 8-0, on May 3 when pitcher Caden Fritz fired a three-hitter.

Three days later the Warriors came back and edged Seneca East, 7-6.

This one seemed destined to be the same.

Fritz was back on the hill for the Tigers and things looked good when Seneca East grabbed a 7-1 lead in the middle of the third inning.

The Warriors, however, came storming back, scoring twice in the third, twice in the fourth and twice in the fifth.

In the meantime, Mohawk reliever Kaden Bish held the Tigers to one run over the final four frames.

That run, and a controversial out call at third base in the fifth inning, propelled the Tigers to an 8-7 win.

With the win the Tigers (16-13) advance to Friday’s district final in Galion against South Central. Game time is 5 p.m. Mohawk ended its season at 19-7.

Seneca East coach Rick Bowerman said that his star pitcher didn’t have his best stuff but came through in the final two frames.

“Sometimes you don’t have your best stuff and he didn’t have his best stuff today,” Bowerman said. “But he’s our ace and we’re going to go with him.

“There toward the end, (Fritz) just kinda bent down and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this.’ And he got it done.”

Mohawk first-year coach Zach Hawkins said that starter Brayden Chester didn’t have his best stuff, either, but Bish kept his team in the game when the Warriors came storming back.

“We put Chester out there; I wanted my senior leader out there,” Hawkins said. “He didn’t have his best stuff and the defense behind him definitely didn’t help out.”

Seneca East got key hits in the first three innings but clearly took advantage of Mohawk mistakes. The Warriors committed three errors, permitted five stolen bases, and had five more wild pitches and passed balls.

“We catch a fly ball, and we probably limit some of those runs,” Hawkins said. “Our catcher didn’t have his best stuff behind the plate, but the kids absolutely didn’t give up. It’s really easy to be down 7-1 and pout and quit. We didn’t allow that to happen.”

Bowerman said that he wanted his team to be aggressive on the bases and it paid off.

“It was good early in the game,” Bowerman said. “We were able to put some runs on the board early in the game. We were aggressive on the base paths and took advantage of the mistakes they made.”

The Tigers scored two in the first on RBI hits from Fritz and Nicholas Parks and added two more in the second on an error, a single and a two-run single from Aidan Hines. Seneca East scored three more in the third on just one hit and held a 7-1 lead.

Mohawk came back quickly, scoring twice in the bottom of the third on a two-run single by Bish and two runs in the fourth on a two-run single from Hunter Haynes.

When the fifth began, Mohawk scored twice on a two-run double by Braylan Mullholand, who moved to third on a single from Ben Bogner. With no one out, it appeared that the Warriors were on the verge of at least tying the game.

Then, the play of the occurred.

Lance Frankart ripped a line drive to short, and Haynes snared the ball for the out. He then rifled a throw to third and the umpire called Mullholand out in a very close play.

Neither Hawkins nor any of the Mohawk faithful agreed with the call.

Hawkins said he was proud of his kids for not folding in the late innings.

“I feel like we were peaking there at the plate, and when you put up seven runs against a pitcher like that, I can’t be mad at them at all, Hawkins said,”

Bowerman felt his defense struggled later in the game.

“In the middle innings, our defense kind of let us down,” Bowerman said. “We gave them four easy runs and we shouldn’t have. When you get to this point in the tournament, you’re only going to face good teams.”

Box score

Seneca East    223 100 0       8        7        3

Mohawk          012 220 0       7      12       5

WP: Caden Fritz (3 SO, 1 W)

LP: Brayden Chester (1 SO, 3 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (M) Kaden Bish.

Doubles: (M) Braylan Mullholand.

Multiple hits: (SE) Caden Fritz 3, Blake Foos; (M) Hunter Haynes, Kaden Bish, Braylan Mullholand, Ben Bogner, Owen Patrizi.

Records: Seneca East 16-13; Mohawk 19-7.

Next: Seneca East vs. South Central, Friday, Galion Division IV district final; Mohawk season over.