After reliever Evan Coil forced a flyout to center fielder Dalton Tatro, the Blackhawks escaped a bases-loaded jam to win the Tomahawk-Valley Conference baseball title.

For the Blackhawks, however, this was only Step 1.

“It’s great to win this and we’re obviously glad to win this, but at the end of the day it’s just a conference championship and our sights are set a lot bigger,” Tate Becker, who went 1 for 2 for Madelia, said. “This is one of three boxes we want to check off. It’s a good start, but job’s not finished.”

It was also Madelia’s second win over Springfield this season, having defeated the Tigers 10-1 in Milroy on May 2. With the stakes a bit higher this time around, fans were treated to more of the kind of game they expected to see.

Zach Jacobs was dialed in for the Blackhawks on the mound, starting the game with three perfect innings and finishing 6 2/3 innings of work with the win. He allowed four hits and one walk for two runs, one earned, while striking out eight.

“I didn’t come into this game expecting to crush them,” Jacobs said. “I knew they were great hitters, but I trust my defense, so I’ve just got to do my job, and I let them do theirs. That’s about it.”

Jacobs ran into some trouble in the seventh with two outs after an errant throw allowed Carter Zamaniego to reach first. Kadyn Anderson followed with a single before a hit by pitch sent Brecken Heiling to first and loaded the bases. Jacobs wanted a chance to get out of the jam, but he was at his pitch limit and was forced to step off the mound.

This gave Coil the big responsibility of closing the door, which he did with a flyout.

“It does suck a little bit that I couldn’t get that last out, but I’m not mad at all,” Jacobs said. “Evan came in and I had full trust in him.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Brecken Heiling rounds third during the Tomahawk-Valley Conference baseball championship game against Madelia on Thursday at Searles Ballpark.

Madelia had two errors in the game, both by Becker, but he made up for it at the plate with a double, a walk and two runs.

“We were hoping to see their best and we think we did,” Becker said. “We just knew if we played our game that we were going to come out on top. I think I had the only errors on the team, which is pretty crazy, but we knew it was going to be a lot closer game and we’re just glad to come out on top.”

Bryce Borkenhagen led the Blackhawks at the plate, going 2 for 3 with an RBI, while Bradyn Grev was 1 for 1 with two walks. Tony Zaleski was 1 for 3 with a walk, while Jacobs was 1 for 3.

Madden Lendt took the loss in 5 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and six walks for three earned runs while striking out six. Adiel Trevino pitched 2/3 innings in relief, allowing one walk.

Aiden Moriarty was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI to lead the Springfield bats. Trevino was 1 for 3 with an RBI, while Anderson was 1 for 3.

Tigers head coach Brandon Wilhelmi said he was happy with what he saw from his team on the pitching side of things despite the loss.

“I thought today we attacked a lot better on the mound,” he said. “We were trying to get strike one, trying to stay ahead and they’re good hitters, they did a really nice job. A couple plays here and there are going to happen in a game and you just have to overcome those things, but just the little things. Nothing major, just a couple little things that separate us from winning a game like this and losing a game like this.”

Madelia got on the board first in the bottom of the second when Becker walked and was singled to third by Borkenhagen. A steal of second by Borkenhagen and an error at second allowed Becker to scamper home.

The Tigers took the lead in the fourth on a double by Moriarty to score Heiling, who led off with a walk and got to second on an error that put Lendt on first. A groundout by Trevino allowed Lendt to score for a 2-1 lead.

The lead didn’t last long as the Blackhawks tied it in the bottom of the fourth after Borkenhagen singled to right to score Becker, who doubled to lead off. In the bottom of the sixth, Miah Garza sent a fly ball to right field for a sac fly to score a sliding Tatro and put Madelia up 3-2.

Springfield fell to 16-4 with the loss and awaits Section 2A playoff seeding. Ending the regular season with a loss wasn’t what the Tigers hoped for, but being that it came against a tough team they could very well see in the postseason gave them something to learn from.

“We had chances,” Wilhelmi said. “Our guys battled and I told our guys that in the huddle at the end that as the game went on, we got better, just put the ball in play more towards the end of the game, made some real nice adjustments at the end of the game and that’s a playoff-, championship-type game that everyone wanted to see.”

Madelia, now 18-2, hosts Minnesota Valley Lutheran back at Searles on Monday in one more regular season game before playoffs.