Calvary Lutheran just needed to start getting the bat on the ball. It was that simple.
"Once they started getting a little confidence we started putting the ball in play and good things started happening," Calvary coach Rusty Boug said following the Lions' 3-2 win Tuesday against Prairie Home/Bunceton at Calvary Lutheran High School.
With the score tied at 1, Jesse Jorgensen led off the sixth inning with his third single and scored when Morgan Allen hit a soft and low popup to the left side of the infield that dropped just under the third baseman's glove.
"Jesse really helped getting on base," Bourg said of the freshman batting in the No. 3 spot.
Jorgensen reached second when a pickoff attempt went wide of first base and reached third when Alex Procter rolled a bunt toward third base for an infield single.
"I told them if you can get a ball down the third-base line it's a base hit," Bourg said.
Calvary loaded the bases after Jared Braun drew the lone walk against Prairie Home starter Talon Benne.
"He's beat us before. He just moves the ball around the plate," Bourg said of Benne, who struck out nine while allowing two earned runs and seven hits in five innings. "There's no passed balls, there's no wild pitches, it's all around the plate."
Dillon Alpers came in to face Allen with the bases loaded.
The Lions added a third run when Carter Brooks walked.
The Panthers got within a run on Blane Petsel's sharp ground-ball single to left field to score Oliver Lock, who led off with a line-drive single to center field.
With the potential tying run at third base and the go-ahead run at first, Jonathan Lieb finished off the win by getting Panthers No. 3 batter Alpers to slap a grounder to the mound on the 94th pitch of the game.
Lieb struck out 11 batters, including the side in the fourth, and walked one in a complete game. Petsel got three of the hits off Lieb, including a triple in the first inning.
"He's just a bulldog on the mound," Bourg said. "He's not a kid you just go out and take the ball from him lightly. You've got to have a pretty good reason to go out there and take him off."
Prairie Home's only other extra-base hit was Jason Burnett's double to deep center field to drive in Petsel.
"We always have have a chance if he's pitching," Bourg said. "We're always in the game when he's pitching."
Calvary had one extra-base hit - a leadoff home run that carried over the fence in left field off the bat of Allen in the fifth.
Prairie Home smacked the ball to deep center field twice in the sixth, but Ben Hardin tracked them down.
To record the third out of the sixth, Allen flipped the ball between his legs to Lieb at first base after a grounder bounced away from Allen in foul territory.
"That was a huge play for the game," Bourg said.
Calvary Lutheran (3-2) is scheduled to host Linn at 5 p.m. Thursday.