OBSERVER File Photo Fredonia’s Derrick Walters pitches during a regular season game in April. Walters pitched a complete game in the Hillbillies’ 3-1, nine-inning win over Depew in a Class B1 semifinal Wednesday.

AMHERST — It has been said before that Fredonia hitters love to hit first pitch fastballs.

That’s exactly what Hillbilly right fielder Nolan Mages got with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning as he ripped an RBI single to center field to score Ryan Mroczka and give the Fredonia baseball team a 3-1 Class B1 semifinal victory over the Depew Wildcats on a breezy Wednesday night at Sweet Home High School.

The ninth inning was set up after a 1-1 tie had knotted the game for most of the afternoon. Mroczka singled to start the frame and then Derrick Walters lined a double to the left center field gap to leave runners on second and third with two outs. An intentional walk to Tyler Winchell loaded them up with one out for Mages to be the hero.

“That was a great baseball game,” said Fredonia head coach Vince Gullo. “I don’t know what to say, that was a tough game.”

If it weren’t for Mages’ late game heroics, the Hillbillies would’ve spoiled a fantastic performance by senior ace Walters, who threw a complete game by going all nine innings. Walters wasn’t the only ace on the mound this game, however, as Depew hurler Josh Goss came into the game with a 0.54 ERA on the season and held Fredonia to just three hits until that final frame.

The pitchers’ duel was ultimately won by Walters, but it wasn’t won without a slow start. After Goss shut down Fredonia in the top half of the first, Walters plunked the lead-off batter Joey Pagano, who stole second and scored on a bloop single by left fielder Dante Dirienzo to give the Wildcats the early 1-0 lead.

“A slow start — maybe, maybe not — that’s a really good team over there in that other dugout,” mentioned Gullo.

Fredonia (16-1, No. 3 seed) came into the game with hot bats after racking up eight runs on Monday against Albion and 14 against Hamburg last week.

Goss had them fooled early: even after a second inning single by Winchell, he stranded him to end the inning on the very next pitch.

The next two innings were owned by the pitchers, and Walters was starting to settle in just nicely.

“All my pitches were in command today and my defense played a huge role today,” said Walters. “They really helped me out a lot.”

Fast forward to the top of the fourth inning where the Hillbilly bats started to wake up. Mroczka lifted a two out double to right center field and was able to score as the next batter, Walters, lined a pitch hard off the Depew left fielder’s glove, tying the game at 1-1. It looked like Fredonia might strike again as the next batter, Winchell, hit a ball hard to the outfield — but right at the center fielder to end the inning.

Depew (16-5, No. 2 seed) finally got back into the hit column in the fifth inning with a single by Sean Miller, but then he was gunned down trying to steal second by Mroczka. Walters, at this point, was really cruising.

“He gained a lot of confidence in his defense behind him, they were playing super,” said Gullo. “And then as the game wore on he dominated by getting a lot of swings and misses.”

It looked like the Hillbillies might get something going in the sixth as Reid Tarnowski singled and stole second, but Goss struck out Trey Swartz and Walters to end the threat and frustration was all over the faces of the Fredonia hitters.

“Attacking the early pitches was pretty undisciplined on our part,” stated Gullo. “We were so excited, everything looked hittable. But their pitcher did a great job moving in and out, changing speed, throwing strikes. We’d swing at the first strike every time because we have a lot of confidence and sometimes too much confidence.”

Walters again retired the Wildcats in order in the bottom half of the sixth, getting help from left fielder Alec Schrader, who made a circus catch in the inning, again highlighting the tremendously sound defense Fredonia plays.

“They give me so much confidence,” said Walters reffering to his defense. “Those plays deep in the outfield, Alec’s play in left field, those types of things really help.”

The game moved along to extra innings and both pitchers continued to deal. Both halves of the eighth inning, each team went down in order. The ninth inning came up and the table was set for Mages who delivered. Fredonia added the extra insurance run in the inning off of a catcher’s interference call allowing Alec Schrader to move to first base, scoring Walters.

The bottom of the ninth came and there was no question who was coming back out on the mound — it was Walters’ game. He induced two fly balls and a ground out to solidify the Hillbillies’ win, moving them on to the B1 finals where they will face Olean today.

Olean has come fresh off a win over Lackawanna by a score of 24-3. With Olean’s bats coming in hot, Coach Gullo will hand the ball to Tarnowski to start, but says he has confidence in Swartz, Mages, and Jared Kowalski if he needs them.

“Olean is a very strong team, they have a lot of good arms,” said Gullo. “They have a Division I player going to Canisius, and they have been winning just as much as we have this year. I hope we can stay with them.”

A win in today’s game would give coach Gullo and the Fredonia Hillbillies eight straight B1 titles.

“We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing and we’ll be just fine,” added Walters.

Fredonia and Olean will face off at Gowanda High School at 4 p.m.

NOTES: Walters got the win throwing nine innings while striking out six batters and only allowing two hits all game. Walters also was big at the plate, putting the ball in play to score the first run, and doubling and scoring later in the ninth inning. … Goss took the loss despite going 8 1/3 innings with six strikeouts. Goss only allowed one earned run on the single by Mages, the other two runs are deemed unearned as errors by fielder’s resulted in those runs. … Mroczka went 2 for 3 with a double and an intentional base on balls.