By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

MILLBURY — Drew Tajblik delivered a dominant performance on the mound Friday, tossing a complete game shutout to help lead the Lake baseball team to a 6-0 home win over Evergreen in a Division III sectional championship.

“That was a good team win,” Lake coach Casey Witt said. “I thought we were pretty sound in all facets of the game, and it was really good to end the week with a win and extend our season.

“(Drew) was pretty darn good just like he’s been all season. We obviously think we have a chance to win every game he’s on the mound.”

Tajblik, a junior right-hander who is committed to the University of Toledo, improved to 9-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.10 after scattering four hits, walking none and striking out eight over his seven innings.

“I felt amazing,” Tajblik said. “I threw the ball hard, threw my curveball well, located my pitches and kept them off balance. It was just a good day overall.”

After Tajblik retired the side 1-2-3, Lake pushed across a pair of runs in the home half of the first. Gavin Kohlhofer led off with a single. Tajblik then followed with a single of his own, and Kohlhofer scored after a throwing error on the play.

Two batters later, Ryan Wagner hit a grounder towards third base, which trapped Tajblik between third and home, but Evergreen’s Brady Kanneman decided to take the out at first.

“When we give Drew a lead to pitch with, he’s pretty effective, and we really like our chances over the course of seven innings,” Witt said.

The Vikings (10-11) racked up three singles over the next three innings off Tajblik, including two in the fourth, but he struck out Kanneman to end that threat.

Lake added on a run in the fourth with a two-out RBI single from Korbin Adkins.

The Flyers then added three more runs over the next two innings.

An RBI single from Jay Blazevich, who then scored on a wild pitch a short time later, highlighted a two-run fifth inning, and an RBI single from Kohlhofer concluded the scoring in the sixth.

Kohlhofer, Tajblik and Adkins recorded multi-hit performances while Tajblik scored a game-best two runs. The Flyers totaled 10 hits and three walks while striking out just three times.

With the victory, the Flyers (22-4) advance to face Otsego (17-10) in next week’s 5 p.m. district semifinal at Defiance High School.

“I told our kids the past couple weeks that every game from here on out is a big game, but it’s a privilege to play in those games, and their play has allowed us to have that privilege,” Witt said.

The Knights defeated Tinora 2-1 in their sectional title game, and this will be the third meeting between Lake and Otsego since May 10.