OBSERVER Photo by Mary Ann Wiberg Dunkirk’s Phillip Messina slides as Fredonia’s Trey Swartz takes the throw during a high school baseball game Wednesday.

Fredonia coach Vince Gullo has been wanting his team to be tested before the playoffs begin for weeks now.

Dunkirk certainly provided all Fredonia could handle on Wednesday, but still, Fredonia came out on top.

The Fredonia Hillbillies defeated Dunkirk, 10-5, in the final regular season meeting between the crosstown rivals at Dunkirk High School on Wednesday.

“Dunkirk played a phenomenal game,” said Coach Gullo. “They matched our intensity.”

Fredonia (12-1, 11-0) got going early with three straight singles to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Hillbillies pushed another run across for a 2-0 lead before Dunkirk (4-10, 3-7) got a chance to hit.

Reid Tarnowski started on the mound for Fredonia once again, as he did in the previous meeting this season back at Fredonia last month. Dunkirk capitalized on a pair of Fredonia throwing errors in the inning to push a run across, cutting the Fredonia lead in half.

“We put the ball in play and we made them kick it around a bit,” said Dunkirk coach Frank Jagoda. “It gave us a bit of confidence.”

“Our defense was sloppy today,” said Gullo. “I was a little concerned with that because we’ve been pretty strong (defensively) this year.”

Fredonia added another run on an RBI single by Seth Schrader, his second hit in as many at bats, to lead 3-1 after the top of the second inning. The Hillbillies added another in the third inning on a Derrick Walters RBI double to go up 4-1. The score would stay that way through the fourth inning.

In the top of the fifth inning, Fredonia added a pair of runs on back-to-back RBI hits from Tyler Winchell and Nolan Mages to push the score to 6-1 in favor of the league champs.

Through four innings of action on the mound for Tarnowski, only the unearned run in the first frame came across to score. That would change in the bottom of the fifth, as Dunkirk challenged Fredonia in a way the Hillbillies were not used to seeing this season.

Tarnowski loaded the bases in the inning — after already allowing a run to score — prompting Gullo to make a move on the mound. Trey Swartz was called on to save the day for Fredonia, and with a little help from his defense, he got the Hillbillies out of a jam.

“Trey Swartz came in and shut the door,” said Gullo. “He did a great job.”

After Alex Ahlstrom walked to make the score 6-3, Lucas Porpiglia came to the plate with the tying run on base. Porpiglia hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing a run to score. Dunkirk pushed the envelope and tried to score a second run on the play, forcing a throw home. Anthony Gullo — taking over Swartz’s position at first — threw home to Fredonia catcher Ryan Mroczka, who lunged across the plate to tag the runner sliding into home in time for the out. The Hillbillies escaped the inning with a 6-4 lead.

“That was a good play. Anthony (Gullo) got up and he didn’t even look. He just threw the ball to Ryan (Mroczka) and Ryan made an amazing diving tag at home,” said Swartz.

After the inning, Fredonia tacked on three in the top of the sixth and another run in the seventh to lead 10-4. Dunkirk tallied once on three hits in the bottom of the seventh inning, but two men were left on as Swartz finished off the Marauders to claim the save and yet another Fredonia victory.

In addition to his effort on the mound, Swartz also led the game with 5 hits, including a pair of doubles and an RBI. Most of his damage came against first-pitch fastballs.

“I love first-pitch fastballs,” said Swartz. “First-pitch fastballs are my thing.”

Gullo was pleased with the production from his three-spot hitter.

“He was seeing the ball pretty well today,” said Gullo.

The win was Fredonia’s third win in three days, after defeating Southwestern and Silver Creek on consecutive days before Wednesday’s rivalry clash.

“We got through the week 3-0, we’ve got one more big one on Friday (against Chautauqua Lake),” said Gullo. “We’ll see what pitching we have left. … I think we’re a contender, but playoffs are one game at a time.”

Though the result was not what Dunkirk hoped, Jagoda was pleased with how his team performed against the top team in the league.

“6-4 late is the best that anybody has played (Fredonia) since their first loss,” said Jagoda.

The Marauders got a solid start on the mound out of Peyton Ahlstrom, a sophomore, who held Fredonia — for the most part — in check early on.

“(Fredonia is) averaging 10-12 runs a game and Peyton held his own,” said Jagoda. “It was a big game for him and he held his own in there against a very potent offense.”

In addition, Dunkirk had two young Marauders stand out offensively on Wednesday — Alex Ahlstrom, an eighth grader, and Philip Messina, a freshman — who each had impressive games. Messina had “three beautiful line drives,” according to Jagoda, which all resulted in hits, while Alex Ahlstrom had an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk.

“Alex Ahlstrom and Philip Messina both had some really good at-bats,” said Jagoda. “Both those guys, especially being so young in a big game like that had some great at-bats.”

“We played the was we’re supposed to play, and I think that’s what made it close,” added Jagoda. “They’re 11-0 in league, and that’s hard to do in our league. Our kids played them tough for seven innings. I couldn’t be more proud of what happened today, other than the outcome.”

Dunkirk’s future is looking bright for Coach Jagoda. The present, however, still belongs to Fredonia.

Twitter: @bradencarmen