HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Seneca East hit Wynford with a punch in the form a 4-run first inning. The Royals were staggered for three innings.

But the offense got going with a 4-run fourth and never slowed down. Along with a complete game from pitcher Spencer Miller, Wynford stopped the Tigers, 13-4, to capture a Division III sectional baseball title.

“That’s two days in a row that we came out really slow,” Wynford coach Tom Smith said. “Just nerves, I guess. We’re not used to winning in the tournament.”

Seneca East (12-12) took advantage of the Royals’ slow start. Keegan Shoup worked a walk leading off and Jake Bowerman sacrificed him to second. From there, the Tigers parlayed three hits and two Wynford (20-4) errors into four runs.

“If we could have stopped after the first three innings, it would have been great,” Seneca East coach Rick Bowerman said. “We came out, put the ball in play, forced them to make a couple of errors, got some big hits, and made some nice defensive plays in the first three innings. But after that, our defense let us down a little bit.”

Indeed, Seneca East committed eight errors on the afternoon, including two that led to the Royals’ four-run fourth that tied the game.

Dylon Robinson led off the frame with a walk and Cainen Allen was safe on an error. Same Collene, Avery Langenderfer, and Zach Harer singled, with Langenderfer driving in two and Harer another. That represented 5-9 in the Wynford batting order.

“That’s what makes us a good team — the bottom of the order hits and comes through,” Smith said. “We’ve won a lot of games when those guys have created runs. That’s why we’re winning. If we were only hitting one through four, we wouldn’t be winning these games.”

The Tigers never got the offense going again. Miller limited them to two hits and five baserunners over the last six innings. The righthander finished with four strikeouts and one walk.

“I knew four runs (in the first) was great, but we were going to have to score more,” Bowerman said. “We just weren’t able. We got some runners on, but just couldn’t come up with the big hit.”

Wynford took the lead with three more runs in the fifth. A double by Grant McGuire, a walk, a hit batter, and two more errors plated the runs, to give the hosts a 7-4 advantage.

The Royals blew the game open with a six-spot in the sixth. They banged out four hits, including doubles by Miller and Robinson, and of course two more Tigers’ errors.

“What we talk about every game is being patient and only hitting our pitch,” Smith said. “Today, we tried to talk about just keeping the ball down because of this wind. It’s something difficult for them.”

On the other side, Cooper Skeel ground out five-and-a third innings before running out of gas. He struck out three and walked three, allowing eight hits. Five of his runs were unearned.

“(Cooper) still had some velocity,” Bowerman said. “But his location — he was running out. He didn’t want to come out of the game. That’s the kind of pitcher you want.”

Wynford piled up 11 hits and got at least one from all nine positions in the batting order. McGuire had three hits including a double. Robinson and Miller also doubled. Kaden Blair, Kendall Blair, Allen, Collene, Langenderfer, and Harer singled.

Aiden Hines, Caden Fritz, Brandon Hines, Skeel, and Blake Martin singled for Seneca East’s five hits.

“(Spencer) pitched good even in the first inning other than the walk right off the bat,” Smith said. “We just had (two) errors behind him. He’s been pitching good all year.”

“The wind didn’t help us. They had two or three hits that normally are going to be caught,” Bowerman said. “We had two or three that we hit that are doubles in the gap. But we both played in the same conditions. They took advantage and they didn’t make the mistakes we did, and they came out on top.”

Smith reflected on winning both league and sectional titles so far.

“It feels good. But it was our goal coming in,” Smith said. “We wanted to start out with the (Northern 10 Athletic Conference) and the sectional. We’ve got a very difficult district. Edison is ranked in the top 15 in the state, so is Genoa, so is Margaretta, so are we.”

Wynford’s next opponent is one of those, Edison, in the district semifinal at Norwalk on Thursday.

Box score

Seneca East    400 000 0        4       5       8

Wynford           000 436 X      13     11      2

WP: Spencer Miller (4 SO, 1 W)

LP: Cooper Skeel (1 SO, 1 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (SE) Blake Martin; (W) Grant McGuire, Dylon Robinson, Spencer Miller.

Multiple hits: (W) Grant McGuire 3.

Records: Seneca East 12-12; Wynford 20-4.

Next: Seneca East season over; Wynford vs. Milan Edison, Division III district semifinal, Thursday.