GATES MILLS, Ohio — There is nothing like the third inning of a baseball game, if you do not mind waiting until then.

For the second regional tournament game in two days, Perrysburg bats were silent the first two innings. Then, it was if Moses had separated The Red Sea and the Yellow Jackets’ offense came alive in the third.

After falling behind 2-0, Perrysburg (25-7) scored three runs in the third and added five more in the fourth inning to defeat Lakewood St. Edward (19-12), 8-2, to win a Division I regional championship Friday at Gilmour Academy’s Figgie Field at Shamsky Stadium.

“It takes us a couple innings to get our bats going,” Perrysburg coach Dave Hall said. “Our (assistant) coach reminded me that the third inning is our inning.

“The last couple games we’ve taken a while to figure out what the guys are doing and then we go to work in the third. The key anytime you are playing a tournament game is you have to keep adding runs and we were able to do that.”

It looked like a marquee pitching matchup from the onset as two future collegiate teammates were starting for opposing teams — Perrysburg starter Parker Faris and St. Edward starter Brady Barker are both seniors signed to play college baseball at Adrian University.

Both of them right-handed pitchers, neither got through three innings, and both were replaced with southpaws. Perrysburg sophomore Tyler Palmer followed by winning the battle of relief pitchers.

Palmer pitched four perfect innings, striking out five and walking none while facing the minimum 12 batters and getting the win. He threw 49 pitches, including 32 strikes.

“I don’t think a runner get on bag,” Perrysburg senior Matt Hubbard said. “He was flawless in those last few innings. Just to help Parker out, with that one-two punch with those two, it was perfect.”

Hall added, “We’ve had good pitching. Palmer came in and threw well today. They are just picking each other up right now. Parker couldn’t get the ball down but he kept us in the game, so we did go with the lefty and Tyler did a heck of a job and we hit the ball well.

“Tyler can be a starter on most teams. He was our No. 3, he was 6-1 all year. We like him in relief behind the two rightys. He was going to come in for Hubbard yesterday (regional semifinal win) if we had to,” Hall continued.

“I thought Parker kept us in the game but he didn’t have it today and I always like going righty-lefty anyway, and the kid throws strikes. He’s made a lot of pitches, and the kids have confidence in him and so do we.

“He’s a pitcher. He’s very confident. He pitched as a freshman last year — he was our No. 3 last year. His only loss was when we got no-hit by Defiance when he threw a one-hitter. So he’s pitched in some big games. I didn’t have any qualms about going to him, that is for sure.”

Perrysburg senior catcher Quinn Weber, who threw out one baserunner trying to steal, said Palmer’s ability to shut out a quality program like St. Edward’s was a shot in the arm for the Yellow Jackets.

“The kid is a dawg — that is all I got to say — he’s just a dawg,” Weber said. “’You’ve got to be a dawg’ — that is what I tell my pitchers between every inning to go out there and dominate and be a dawg and that is what he did today.”

Senior infielder Trent Bezek said every Perrysburg player, including the nine seniors on the team, trust Palmer to do his thing.

“I love Tyler — he’s a sophomore but he’s got a lot of confidence and he trusts me, he trusts our defense, he trusts everybody on this team, so it feels good to put the game in his hands.”

Faris struck out four, walked one, allowed five hits and two runs, but only one was earned — still good numbers for a regional tournament game.

“It showed for itself — absolutely outstanding,” Weber said. “They just went out there and they shoved, did their thing. They put faith in me, they put faith in themselves and trusted the defense. That is what we do.”

Even St. Edward longtime coach Jimmy Clark, while originally concerned about the 6-foot-6 Faris, was impressed with Palmer’s performance.

“We had hit the ball early, but you have to really credit their pitchers beyond about the third inning, they were pretty stellar,” Clark said. “We never got any momentum going offensively and I think that they built off the momentum.”

St. Ed’s did have momentum early, scoring single runs in the top of the second and third inning to build an early two-run lead, but then Perrysburg’s offense started forcing the Eagles to make plays.

Bezek and Weber led off the third reaching on walks against the 6-4, 230-pound Barker, then junior Connor Kessinger reached on a fielder’s choice, and Bezek scored on a throwing error.

Senior Brady Zilles put down a sacrfice bunt attempt, but he beat out the bunt for a base hit. However, another throwing error allowed Kessinger to reach third, and he scored when Barker’s throw to pick off Zilles went to the fence. Hubbard hit a single to left field, scoring Zilles and giving Perrysburg a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish.

“We jumped out 2-0 and I thought the big thing there was when they had first and third and our pitcher ended up on that pickoff play, the ball getting away, and they scored a run, and the subsequent bunt and we were unable to get an out,” Clark said. “It just seemed to get them the momentum and they come out of that up one run.”

The momentum continued into the fourth with Perrysburg scoring five runs on four hits, including a two-RBI double to the right-center field gap by Hubbard, and a two-RBI line drive base hit to center field by Kessinger.

All-in-all, Barker struck out two, walked two, allowed two hits and three earned runs. He and southpaw relief pitchers Leo Bartolone and Payton Beck combined to strike out four, walk six, give up nine hits and eight runs, and they were victims of three errors by their defense.

“We walked too many guys today, too many errors today,” Clark said. “You got to give credit to Perrysburg — outstanding team and they hit the ball timely enough and that is all it takes in the tournament.”

Hubbard went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs, plus he reached on all four plate appearances. Junior Landon Winters was 2-for-4 with an RBI and senior Abram Hire was 2-for-3.

The Jackets had three stolen bases by Kessinger, Winters, and junior Noah Lindsey, and Bezek reached three times on walks, scoring twice.

“I just kind of went with my approach and if they give me something I’m going to try and hit it,” Bezek said. “But they didn’t give him a whole lot today so I was going to take my free base.

“We all trust each other, so I’m getting walks but then I trust Quinn to come and bunt or hit me over and then we just roll over into the top of the lineup. It’s just team baseball.”

Hall added, “Trent has a great eye and he makes pitchers work. He struggled a little this year but his walk total is starting to get back up and that is what we need out of him.”

For St. Ed’s, sophomore Grant Lashtuka was 2-for-3, junior Nick Variglotti doubled, junior Karlo Hepp had a base hit and stolen base, and freshman Langston Lucas had a base hit.