Chaminade Julienne beats Hartley on walk-off single

» PHOTOS: CJ vs. Hartley

“I knew I had to do something big,” Gongora said. “I knew the situation. If I got a hit, we won it, so there were a lot of nerves, but I’m happy I came through.”

The Eagles (21-5) won their ninth straight game and advanced to a 5 p.m. regional final Friday against Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, which beat Hamilton Ross 8-1 in the first semifinal Thursday in Mason.

Chaminade Julienne seeks its second straight state berth. It lost 4-0 to Tallmadge in the state championship game last year.

CJ coach Mike Barhorst said Nick Wissman (6-1, 1.15) or Gongora (5-1, 1.47) will start Friday. He hadn’t decided as of moments after Thursday’s victory. He was still enjoying the victory and the image of the Eagles celebrating the final hit.

“I had my hands on my head,” Barhorst said. “I was praying it was going to be just far enough to get over. I thought for a second he was getting under it and was going to take it away. Off the bat, I thought it was going to drop in. I wasn’t really sure. It’s just exciting to walk off with a win like that.”

» REGIONAL BASEBALL: Centerville falls to Mason

Peltier, a senior who earned the victory on the mound, started the winning rally with a two-out walk. He moved to third on a throwing error.

“The guy tried to pick me off, and the ball got by,” Peltier said. “They called obstruction (on the first baseman). I just rounded second and got to third. I thought it was dead when they called obstruction, but coach said that even if I had gotten thrown out at third, I would have been safe because of that obstruction call.”

Bishop Hartley had tied the game in the top of the seventh with two outs. A single up the middle by Anthony Whitney scored James Farrell, who reached on an error with one out.

Bishop Hartley also scored its first run on an error, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

“We made four errors,” Barhorst said. “They ended up being really costly.”

If not for the errors, Peltier would have had a shutout. The Ball State recruit struck out 10 batters and allowed only two hits.

»PHOTO GALLERY: D-I regional track and field at Wayne

“My off-speed was feeling really good,” Peltier said. “I was just feeling really good overall.”

Peltier improved to 6-2 with a 2.36 ERA.

“Ryan’s been outstanding the last couple years for us,” Barhorst said. “He can pound the zone. He’s got a lot of movement, a lot of arm angles, throws good velocity and has good command on his breaking balls. Anytime he’s on the mound, we know we have a really good shoot at winning the ballgame.”