Fort Frye’s Shawn Miller gets under an infield popup during Wednesday’s Division III sectional final baseball game against Edison. Fort Frye won 7-2. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY — Even on a night where they didn’t hit the ball or field it particularly well, the Fort Frye Cadets still found a way to get things done in Wednesday’s Division III Sectional Championship at home against visiting Edison.

Despite making three errors in the field and not collecting their first base hit until the fourth inning, the Cadets grinded out a 7-2 win behind ace pitcher Clay Greuey and advance to district play next week against Garaway at a site to be determined.

“Hats off to the (Hunter) Rothacker kid, he’s a really good pitcher and we saw him last year and knew this was going to be a test for us,” said Cadet head coach Trey Engle. “We struggled early but I’m glad the guys were able to string some things together and get us a lead.”

Edison scored single runs in the first and third innings as did the Cadets as they took advantage of four errors by the Wildcats.

The Wildcats plated a run in the opening inning when shortstop Brayden Moss led off with a single moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Long and came into score on a base hit by Matt Parsons.

The Cadets answered in the last of the first as Dawson Layton and Owen Brown both reached base on Edison fielding errors and second baseman Ethan Duskey delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to score Layton.

Edison scored an unearned run off of Greuey in the third as Moss reached on an error, moved to second on a Long single and scored when Parsons delivered his second run scoring single in three innings.

The Fort tied things back up in the bottom of the third when Layton walked and later came into score on a pair of Wildcat miscues.

Fort Frye broke things open in the bottom of the fourth when they scored five times on five base hits to open up a 7-2 lead.

Cadet third baseman Shawn Miller got the pivotal fourth going when he hit a slow roller to shortstop and legged it out for a single and advanced to second on yet another Edison throwing error.

Miller’s infield hit was the first of the game for the Cadets but it certainly wouldn’t be the last as they sent 10 hitters to the plate in the fourth alone to chase Rothacker.

Rothacker retired the next two Cadet hitters before shortstop Matthias Kesselring reached base on a walk to put two Fort Frye runners on base with two out.

Pinch runner Avery Shalitz broke the tie by scoring from third base on a wild pitch and Layton followed with his first hit of the game.

Senior center fielder Owen Brown came up with the biggest hit of the game as he doubled deep into the left center field gap to score both base runners and give Fort Frye a 5-2 lead.

Duskey followed with an RBI single and Jackson Lowe forced in another run when he drew a base on balls with the bases loaded for the fifth and final run of the inning

Greuey took care of things from there as he held Edison scoreless over the final five innings of the game to seal the deal and the sectional crown for the Cadets.

Layton led the way offensively for Fort Frye (23-3) as he collected a pair of base hits while scoring three runs.

Engle was pleased his team could find a way to capitalize on some Edison errors to stay in the game until their bats came to life.

“We have been a team that takes advantage of our opportunities and it’s good to see that we are still doing that this late in the year,” said Engle. “That’s kind of our game and has been for a long time.”

Greuey may not have had his best stuff on the mound but the junior righty allowed seven base hits and fanned two while not issuing a single walk to pick up his 11th win of the season against just one loss.

“You just can’t say enough about him (Greuey) but the fact that he has lost only two games in two years says it all,” said Engle of his ace starter. “He just continues to impress me and although he didn’t have his best stuff tonight he sure pitched his butt off.”

Rothacker was saddled with the loss despite not allowing a single earned run in his three and two thirds inning of work for Edison (16-9).

The Cadets will advance to play Garaway, who blanked Barnesville 10-0 to earn their bid to the districts on Monday at a neutral site to be determined.

“Garaway is a very sound fundamental baseball team that reminds me a lot of us and they will be a tough test for sure,” said Engle. “I can’t say enough about the effort we get from everyone of our kids and especially our seniors and I know they are not ready for it to be done.”