Knights squeak by Lathrop to advance

PALMER — Sometimes the final score is simply deceiving.

Led by a stellar effort from starter Mike Wagner on the mound, Colony scored a 9-7 extra-innings win over Lathrop during the ASAA/First National Bank State Baseball Championships consolation semifinal round at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer on Saturday.

The Knights allowed seven runs in the game, but all were unearned.

“If you look at the scoreboard, you wouldn’t think he threw that good of a game,” Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said. “Mike threw a great game.”

Wagner fanned nine hitters and walked only two while scattering seven hits over eight innings. One of those walks was intentional.

Much of Lathrop’s success came courtesy of Colony’s eight errors.

“When you make eight errors behind your pitcher, you know you’re pitcher’s throwing strikes,” Mayo said.

Despite his team’s struggles in the field, Mayo said Wagner continued to battle.

“Mike’s a fairly even-tempered kid. It’s tough to get into his head,” Mayo said. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s so mentally strong or what, but it’s tough to get into his head.”

Senior Kody Ziter sparked the Knights early, using a triple and a home run to twice give the Knights the lead.

Ziter put the Knights up 3-0 in the first when he tripled to deep left field. Taylor Palmer and Colter Peterson both singled and scored on the Ziter three-bagger. Wagner drove in Ziter with a double later in the inning.

After Lathrop took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the first, Ziter smacked a home run over the left field fence to give the Knights the 5-4 advantage.

Colony held a 7-5 lead in the seventh, but Lathrop tied the score with a two-run Colony error.

In the eighth, freshman Jonathan Boyer led off the inning with a walk. Boyer was moved in to scoring position with Nick Srebernak’s sacrifice bunt and Aaron Butcher’s infield single. Both Boyar and Butcher scored the go-ahead runs when senior JD Mayo blooped a single into short center field.

In addition to his work on the mound, Wagner led the Knights at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. With his home run and triple, Ziter drove in four runs. Peterson also had three hits.