At mid-season, there were many who may have thought the Perrysburg and Toledo St. Francis baseball teams would never be facing off in a Division I regional semifinal.

Perrysburg had a string of losses that cost them a Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division championship, and St. Francis was 8-10 playing its first season in the Detroit Catholic High School League.

Thursday at Bowling Green State University’s Warren Steller Field, it was Perrysburg that will continue playing after defeating St. Francis, 4-1. The 24-7 Yellow Jackets advanced to Friday’s 5 p.m. regional final against Lakewood St. Edward (19-11) at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio.

Perrysburg 6-foot-4 senior starter Matt Hubbard struck out three, walked one, spread out six hits and allowed just one run while his team, on both offense and defense, made plays when they mattered.

Hubbard, who was batting .411 entering the game, was 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs, so he’s contributing on both sides of the ball.

“He’s been pitching to contact the last few games because as you can see our defense is pretty good,” Perrysburg coach Dave Hall said.

“I knew going in this year we had a really good infield, and our outfield, especially when (Brady) Zilles got healthy, he makes us really good out there, and nobody wants to run on (center fielder Braxton) Mefferd.

“I think ‘Hubby’ has just realized with that defense back there ‘I don’t have to strike everybody out,’ and hitting-wise, he’s been on fire (Hubbard) for about three weeks.”

Hubbard threw 89 pitches, including 56 strikes, but just as importantly his defense not only did not make a mistake, there were several running catches by his outfielders and his infielders were picking off hard-hit grounders.

“It was amazing,” Hubbard said. “At second base (Brayden Heitmeyer), he had two liners right at him and he made both plays. Its the ability we have out here to just make plays, and I trust these guys with everything.”

Making Hubbard’s job easier was the three runs the Yellow Jackets scored on the top of the third inning, after the Knights had runners on second and third in the bottom of the second and failed to score.

Joey Meredith doubled to lead off the second and reached third on a wild pitch, and Cooper Lajiness took the count full before reaching on a walk and stealing second, putting St. Francis runners in scoring position with no outs in the second.

But Hubbard got Brady Mitchey and Mara Bublick to hit consecutive fly balls to shallow center field, and on both Meredith chose not to challenge the arm of Mefferd. Then Hubbard struck out Colin Hennessey for the third out.

In the top of the third, Perrysburg designated hitter Abram Hire led off by reaching on a walk, stole second, and scored on an RBI base hit to center field by Trent Bezek.

Bezek went to third when Quinn Weber reached on an infield hit that ricocheted off the legs of Hennessey, the pitcher, and Bezek scored on an sacrifice fly to left field by Connor Kessinger.

Zilles’ sacrifice bunt moved Weber to scoring position with two outs, and then Hubbard lined an 0-and-2 pitch to center field, scoring Weber. Every strategy that Perrysburg put in place seemed to pay dividends.

“I was just trying to get the barrel on the ball, not trying to do too much,” Hubbard said. “I got some bad counts, 1-and-2, 2-and-2 maybe, and just put the barrel to the ball and it got through.”

After that, Hubbard could just do his thing on the mound with a 3-0 lead.

“We got an early lead in the third inning, so it was the same approach — pitch with the lead, throw strikes,’ Hubbard said. “I only walked one today, but it was throw strikes and have my defense play some good defense like they did today.”

It was the kind of efficiency that St. Francis was unable to do, leading to six stranded baserunners by the Knights, who outhit Perrysburg 6-5, and just four by the Yellow Jackets.

“The difference was the bottom of the second, (runners on) second and third with nobody out and not scoring and then the top of the third,” St. Francis coach Bobby Edgell said. “It turned out that whole inning was the difference in the game.”

In addition, Perrysburg had to figure out a way to get to Hennessey, a junior who is the son of former Major League pitcher Brad Hennessey.

His first two innings, Hennessey did not allow a Perrysburg runner to reach base, striking out two, but starting in the third the Perrysburg hitters found a way. It all began with communication in the dugout.

“We were talking,” Hubbard said. “We knew he had a good fastball that kind of dipped a little bit, and we were just able to get on with walk, which usually he doesn’t do. But we were able to get that walk on and move baserunners because he has the high leg kick, and we got timely hits.”

Perrysburg coach Dave Hall added, “We knew he had the two-seamer that ran in, so we tried to adjust to that going into the game.

“He was throwing a little bit more offspeed than what we were waiting for. Then, I think going around that first time, we just made a couple adjustments with the kids, because we were getting counts we wanted.

“We were getting 2-and-0 and rolling over. You know, we knew he wasn’t going to give up too many hits. He’s a good pitcher.”

Hennessey only lasted 4.1 innings, striking out five, walking two, allowing five hits and four runs, but only three were earned. He threw 77 pitches, including 47 strikes.

Drew Puckett, in relief, held the Jackets scoreless through the final 2.2 innings, striking out two, walking one while throwing 29 pitches, including 27 strikes.

Getting base hits for the Jackets were Hire, Bezek, and Weber, Hire had two stolen bases, and Kessinger reached and scored after getting hit by a pitch in the fifth inning. Hubbard provided that RBI, too.

For St. Francis, which finishes the season 19-12, Drew Tucker was 2-for-3, Meredith and Bublick hit doubles, and Lajiness and Nick Hood had base hits.

Edgell said the DCHSL prepared them well for the tournament.

“It was a challenge,” Edgell said. “It definitely got us ready for playoff baseball and we responded. You go back 13 games ago and were 8-10 and then win 11 of 12 and are playing in the regionals.

“We are returning most of this team. Three or four seniors that really contributed and then the rest are juniors and sophomores. The last pitcher was a sophomore. I hope this playoff atmosphere and playing deep into the regionals will help us next year.”

Hall added, “They are a good team. Like I said before, there are about six teams that could be in the same spot we are. You just have to get hot at the right time which is what it is about at tournament time.”

Hall says the theme for the Jackets, who have six seniors playing college baseball next year, is creating their legacy while at Perrysburg.

“I think after (getting swept by) Anthony Wayne where we sort of imploded on ourselves that they got challenged by me. I had nothing to say and then I went beserk,” Hall said.

“I think they’ve got a great amount of pride. I think they’ve worked extremely hard. They’ve always been on the same page as me as far as our goals. I think it just took a little bit of the heart-to-heart and they have been playing really good since then.

“We’ve had some hitters who had been struggling and readjusted their approach. Now ‘Hubby’ (Hubbard) has gotten really good, but I think they dug down.

“I told them they were too good not to be doing better than what they were doing. I told them, and it was a challenge, that they had a legacy — we talked about legacy.

“I went home that night, I went through my archives — nnly 40-some odd years, and went through every upset, every tournament run that we made, and every team that is not picked to win, and made them read it. Our catchword has been ‘legacy.’”