The No. 7 Shipbuilders (10-7) will square off on the road against No. 2 Greely (12-4) on Thursday. The No. 10 Raiders finished the season at 8-9.

“That’s a playoff team right there in Oak Hill and we came to play right until the end,” First-year Morse coach Niko Ruiz said. “I’ve been telling them from the beginning that hits are going to happen and errors are going to happen, and as long as you focus and play the game, everything will work out as it should.”

Morse starter Asa Hodgdon pitched six strong innings, scattering five hits while striking out seven and walking two. Jackson Walker pitched a 13-pitch seventh to seal the game.

Hodgdon also shined at the plate, garnering a pair of hits, driving in three runs, including two-key runs in the sixth for insurance.

“We’ve had a little trouble lately with the bats so it was good to come up with some big hits today and hopefully that will carry straight into Greely,” said the junior.

“That’s a good ball club right there,” Oak Hill coach Chad Stowell said of Morse. “We had runners on all over the place early on, and give credit to Asa, he got the outs when he needed to, he’s a real good pitcher.”

Oak Hill’s Caleb Valliere, right, tags out Morse’s Brenton Cahill on a pick-off attempt during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s Class B South prelim game in Bath. Times Record photo by Eric Maxim

Oak Hill starter Reid Cote was effective early on, taking down the ‘Builders one-two-three in the first and worked around three Oak Hill errors in the second, including the first of two pick offs at first base to allow just one run.

“It was fun to go up against him, he was good.” Cote said about going up against Hodgdon. “It’s playoff baseball and getting into the playoffs for the first time in awhile, facing a team we hadn’t faced, we were pretty excited.”

The Raiders tied the game in the third after Cote reached on his second hit of the afternoon and moved around to score on a pair of wild pitches from Hodgdon.

Morse answered with a pair in the bottom half to break the one-all tie. Caleb Tibbitts led off the frame with a walk and came around to score on a double from Hodgdon. Walker brought in his pitcher for the third Morse run with his second single of the game.

That was all the offense Morse needed. Hodgdon retired the Raiders in order in the fourth and in the fifth, he showed everyone what he was made of, digging down deep to get the final out with his curveball to leave the sacks loaded.

“That was big,” Morse catcher Ty Knowlton said. “He didn’t throw too many in the dirt during warm-ups, but once he got on the mound, he started throwing them out of the zone and I knew I could block it, he was on and I knew they weren’t going to touch it.”