HOLMES TOWNSHIP — It was a game the Wynford Royals had to have. In a battle of two of the best teams in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, a loss could have knocked them out of contention.

Especially since Upper Sandusky edged the Royals the day before, pushing Wynford into the second division of the conference.

Wednesday, when the Rams jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the game, the Royals were able to keep their composure.

Wynford scored four times in the bottom of the fifth inning before stopping a potential Upper rally in the top of the seventh for a 5-3 win.

With the win, the Royals improved to 2-3 in the conference, 5-5 overall. Upper fell to 4-2 in the conference, 6-3 overall.

Wynford coach Tom Smith said that his team’s ability to come back from deficits has been a staple of the team this season.

“These guys have a lot of confidence and I think that has hindered us because they think they’re better than maybe they are sometimes so they have a lot of confidence that they can come back and score,” Smith said.

Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Smalley felt that Wynford is a dangerous team when it’s behind.

(Wynford) played good ball today,” Smalley said. “They stayed with it after we got up on them early. But that’s the game of baseball; you have to keep playing.”

The Rams reached Wynford starter Kaiden Blair for a run in the first inning on a Kaden Holman run-scoring single, then increased the lead to 3-0 in the second on run-scoring singles from Josh Heilman and Evan Hinesman.

Drew Johnson replaced Blair on the hill for the Royals and threw 5 1/3 shutout innings, squashing an Upper Sandusky rally in the seventh.

“Drew pitched great,” Smith said. “He has that ability to be the dominant guy. When he’s on, he’s on. But when he’s not, it’s a lot of walks. Hopefully, he can gain some confidence from this.

“Especially right there in the last inning. He pitched to their best player, Holman, to get that flyout to end the game, so he pitched a great game,” he added.

Josh Heilman started on the mound for the Rams and permitted a run in the second on a Johnson run-scoring single.

Heilman shut down the Royals until the fifth inning.

Collin Hulsmeyer walked, Blair singled and Spencer Miller singled to load the bases with one out for Grant McGuire.

Upper decided to pitch to the Wynford star and McGuire lined a double to the fence in right-center, scoring two to tie the game at 3-3.

From there, Johnson singled home a run and Wes Prenger hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring another.

“We kind of went on a lull there for some reason,” Smalley said. “You could see this but that’s the game of baseball. You’re going to have that.”

“Josh threw a good game, I thought,” Smalley said. “(Kaleb) Francis came in and did good, too, so I can’t really say anything bad about that.”

Upper Sandusky loaded the bases with two out in the top of the seventh. But Johnson got a fly ball to right to end the game.

Smith agreed that this was a must-win for his team.

“Absolutely as had to have it,” Smith said. “What we were looking for is how we responded after losing last night. Losing three league games this quick, they could have folded today, and they came back and showed some heart.”

Smalley was pleased with his team’s performance, despite not having their best player.

“We’ve gone 3-1 without one of the best players in the state (Holman) playing in the field, so we’ve done well,” Smalley said. “We scored runs; we left too many runners on base again. That’s been a problem we’ve had; we have left too many runners on base. We’ll hit the ball then all of a sudden, we’ll leave runners on base, and we have to correct that problem.”

Box score

Upper Sandusky   120 000 0        3       9        1

Wynford                  010 040 X        5       8       0

WP: Drew Johnson (4 SO, 4 W)

LP: Josh Heilman (3 SO, 6 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (US) Ethan Hill, Kaleb Francis; (W) Grant McGuire 2.

Multiple hits: (US) Justin Heilman, Josh Heilman; (W) Grant McGuire, Kaden Blair, Drew Johnson.

Records: Upper Sandusky 6-3, 4-2 N10; Wynford 5-5, 2-3 N10.

Next: Milan Edison at Upper Sandusky, Friday; Mount Gilead at Wynford, Friday.