ESSIG — The No. 11-seeded Essig Bluejays held off a late push by the No. 12 Fairfax Cardinals in the ninth inning to hang on for a 10-7 win in a Region 2C Amateur Baseball Tournament play-in game Wednesday night.

Josh Vander Plas led the Essig bats, going 3 for 4 with a triple, two doubles and an RBI. Jay Helget, Kaden Peterson and Winsten Nienhaus also each went 2 for 5 at the plate for Essig, with Peterson adding a triple and Helget adding a double. Peterson and Helget also each had two RBIs, while Nienhaus had one RBI.

Peterson got the start for Essig and went 1 1/3 innings for a no decision, allowing two hits an four walks for two earned runs. Zach Riederer got the win in 4 2/3 innings of relief, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven.

Nienhaus also pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief for Essig, allowing two hits for no runs while striking out four. Bradyn Kube got the final two outs for Essig in relief but allowed two hits and four walks for four runs, only one run being earned, while striking out two.

For the Cardinals, Andrew Peterson led the way at the plate by going 3 for 6 with an RBI, while Scott Palmer was 1 for 4 with a two-run double that tied the game at 2-all in the bottom of the first. Andrew Willemssen took the loss in three innings pitched, allowing six hits and no walks for four runs, three earned, while striking out two. Isaac Louwagie pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief for Fairfax, striking out eight while allowing four hits and six walks for six runs, four earned. Ethan Louwagie also pitched 2/3 innings in relief for the Cardinals, allowing one walk.

After taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Helget and an RBI groundout by Erich Prokosch, Essig allowed the Cardinals to tie it in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double by Palmer.

Essig took the lead back in the second on an error that scored Riederer and added another run in the inning on a RBI base hit from Nienhaus for a 4-2 lead. Fairfax got a run back in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Peterson, but the Bluejays took over after that, scoring one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the eighth for a 10-3 lead.

Fairfax made it interesting in the top of the ninth thanks to capitalizing on errors and wild pitches. A leadoff error allowed Peterson to take first, while a walk to Ethan Louwagie put two on with no outs. A walk to Palmer filled the bases before Essig recorded its first out on a strikeout. Pinch hitter Andres Herrera then singled in a run to make it 10-4 before Luke Bastian singled in another run to make it a 10-5 game.

Palmer and Herrera both scored moments later on wild pitches and Owen Swenson, who was walked with two outs, was left stranded at second after a groundout ended the game.

Essig now plays top-seeded Courtland in Springfield at 11 a.m. this Saturday. The winner plays at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in a winners bracket game in Springfield, while the loser falls to an elimination game at 11 a.m. Sunday in Sleepy Eye.