SOUTH CHINA — Thursday’s Class B North baseball quarterfinal at Caswell Field came down to one thing — execution.

As it has done virtually all season, No. 4 Erskine mastered it. No. 5 Oceanside did not.

Luke Peabody drove in the winning run in the fourth inning and closer Zack Glidden tossed three innings of scoreless relief to give the Eagles a 4-3 win on a cold, blustery day for baseball.

Erskine (14-3) will face No. 1 Old Town in the semifinals on Saturday. Oceanside ends its season at 12-5.

The Eagles took advantage of the first two of the Mariners’ three errors to score their final two runs.

On the other side, Erskine committed just one error and made several inning-altering plays in the field.

“Hands down, (the defense) absolutely contributed to a great win (Thursday),” Glidden said. “They made some great plays behind us.”

“It came down to two errors,” Oceanside coach Don Shields said. “We had a couple of opportunities to score where we didn’t, too. We didn’t get a bunt down and I tried to steal, and I knew not to steal on (Erskine’s Nick) Turcotte because he’s phenomenal. He’s the best catcher in our conference, bar none.”

With the game tied 3-3, Erskine’s Cody Beaudoin reached on a throwing error by the third baseman to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Jake Suga sacrificed him to second. After Oceanside pitcher Logan Sheridan got Turcotte to pop out to short for the second out, Peabody hit a looping liner into shallow center to plate Beaudoin.

“I had heard he had a curve ball. I saw a couple of times that it hadn’t been breaking (Thursday). It might have been too cold or something like that,” Peabody said. “I just thought the ball was a little easier to see (Thursday). It was right there.”

Glidden relieved starter Noah Bonsant to start the fifth and gave up a leadoff double to Nick Mazurek, who moved to third on a ground out to short.

Third baseman Andrew Browne nearly retired the next hitter, Thomas Curtis, by diving for a flare in front of the bag. After a few moments of indecision and discussion, umpires ruled that Browne had trapped it and that the ball landed in foul territory. Shields argued that the ball was fair, but to no avail.

Curtis ended up hitting a sharp ground ball to the right side that Suga, the second baseman, snared off a tricky hop and threw Curtis out while Mazurek held at third. Moments later, Bonsant — who moved to first base after being relieved of his pitching duties — made a diving stop on Jack Freeman’s hard ground ball down the first base line and crawled to the bag to record the final out.

Oceanside again got the potential tying run on base against Glidden to lead off the sixth when Titus Kaewthong reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. But Turcotte easily gunned him down trying to steal second.

“I’m surprised they tried to steal on him, especially with Zack pitching,” Erskine coach Lars Jonassen said.

Glidden, who started in the Eagles first game of the season and has been one of the top relievers in Class B ever since, mixed his low-80s fastball with a knee-buckling curve to set the final five batters down in order, three in a row via strikeout.

“(Jonassen) always tells me to warm up and stay loose just in case,” Glidden said. “Once the fifth inning came around, he told me to go in there. I like to be in the moment, especially in pitching.”

The pitcher Glidden relieved, Bonsant, had a big moment to start the game when he allowed a walk, double and intentional walk to load the bases.

Shortstop Dylan Presby temporarily kept the game scoreless by throwing a runner out at the plate, but Curtis followed by ripping the next pitch to right for an RBI single. Freeman hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0, but after issuing another walk to load the bases again, Bonsant buckled down to get Hunter Davis to ground out to third and end the inning.

“I really felt we had to get more than two in the first. We had them on the ropes in that first inning,” Shields said. “Like we did at our place (during the regular season). We got two runs in the first and had them on the ropes. We get two here. We lose both games by a run. But again, I’ve got great respect for Lars and what he does for these kids.”

“I think the biggest part of the game was our answer in that inning, because had we not answered, it might have been a long night,” Jonassen said. “It could have lingered at 2-0, and we’d have been in deep trouble.”

Erskine did indeed answer with two in the bottom of the frame. Sheridan hit Peabody to lead off. Peabody (2 for 2, two runs scored, four stolen bases) stole second and scored on Presby’s double. Barden drove Presby home with a single and would have put the Eagles ahead if not for a diving catch in right field by Michael Norton.

In the top of the second, Beaudoin caught a fly ball to left and threw a strike to first base to double-up the runner, who was going on the pitch and had passed second base.

The Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the second with Peabody again serving as catalyst. He singled with two out, stole second and scored when Presby hit a pop fly to the right side that the second baseman dropped.

Oceanside tied it in the fourth on Norton’s two-out RBI single off Bonsant’s glove.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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