BOWLING GREEN — Ontario’s improbable postseason run isn’t over yet.
Peyton Dzugan fired a complete-game four-hitter and the Warriors won a regional championship for the first time since 1994 with a 7-3 upset of Defiance in Saturday’s Division II regional championship game at Carter Park in Bowling Green.
Ontario (16-14) will play Washington Court House in the state semifinals at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 9 at Canal Park in Akron. Washington Court House advanced with a 10-0 win over Cambridge in the Ohio Dominican regional final.
Defiance took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Warriors scored four unearned runs in the home half of the inning for a 4-1 lead.
Three straight walks loaded the bases with nobody out. With two out, a ground ball off the bat of Gage Weaver was misplayed on the infield, allowing the tying run to score. Carter Weaver singled to drive in the go-ahead rub before Carter Walters stroked a two-run single to center.
Defiance scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to make it 4-3, but Ontario again responded in the bottom of the frame.
Gage Weaver led off with a single and moved to second on Carter Weaver’s sacrifice bunt. Jake Chapman’s double to center plated Gage Weaver and Braxton Hall’s single plated another run. Hall eventually scored on another Defiance errors for a 7-3 lead.
Dzugan led the way offensively with two hits. Chapman, Jayden Leach and Colten Ramion doubled, while Carter Walters knocked in a pair of runs.
