GALION — In the biggest game of the season, Seneca East coach Rick Bowerman went with sophomore Brady Bloom on the mound.

“He’s pitched quite a few games but two or three innings here and there,” Bowerman said. “Twenty-plus innings overall. Toward the end of the season, he was throwing the best for us. So, we decided to go with him, and he went out and pitched very well tonight.”

Bloom showed his coach to be a genius. The young right-hander tossed a complete-game four-hitter, striking out one and walking one.

But one mistake cost him dearly. With Bloom and South Central starter Aaron Hauler matching each other shutout inning after shutout inning, one mistake made the difference.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Bloom was called on a balk with a South Central runner on third. The balk scored the runner, and the Trojans came away with a 1-0 win in the final of the Division IV district tournament at Heise Park.

With the win, the Trojans (17-8) advance to the Lancaster regional tournament and will face Leesburg Fairfield on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Seneca East completed its season at 16-14.

South Central coach Nick Kirk thought that with the game playing out as it did, a 1-0 game was a possibility.

“In the dugout over there, we were talking about the chance it was going to be a 1-0 game. It just felt that way,” Kirk said.

“The pitchers were pitching their butts off,” Kirk added. “Hats off to Seneca East. They’re always well-coached, they have great players over there. There’s no doubt they will be back here next year.”

Despite Bloom’s efforts, Hauler was equally good, firing a complete-game three-hitter. He struck out four and walked two.

“I don’t think he’s had the season that he wanted; he’s been efficient, but I told him ‘you got something to prove today.’ You don’t have to prove it to anyone else because we know how you are, just prove it to yourself. He went out there and he was dealing. He deserves it,” Kirk said of his starter.

“(Hauler) kept us off-balance,” Bowerman said. “He didn’t give us a lot of good things to hit. I told our kids, we struggled with him a little bit because we were swinging at pitches that weren’t in the strike zone.

“We were upping the count and swinging at pitches that were above the letters and below our knees and having a hard time with that,” Bowerman added.

In the bottom of the fifth, Brian Chaffee opened with a single before he was sacrificed to second and moved to third on a single from Cole Frankart.

It was then that the balk occurred, scoring Chaffee with the only run of the game.

“He pitched his butt off,” Bowerman said of Bloom. “We played defense behind him. They put a couple of hits together and then he gets a little overanxious and balks a guy home.

“He stepped up and really pitched well,” Bowerman said. “I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Box score

Seneca East       000 000 0       0        3        2

South Central    000 010 X       1        3        2

WP: Aaron Hauler (4 SO, 2 W)

LP: Brady Bloom (1 SO, 1 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (SC) Caiden Wilson.

Multiple hits: None.

Records: Seneca East 16-14; South Central 17-8.

Next: Seneca East season over; South Central vs. Leesburg Fairfield, Thursday at Lancaster Division IV regional semifinal, 6 p.m.