Courtesy of Chillicothe Gazette Staff 7:13 p.m. EDT May 14, 2016

FRANKFORT - Weather played a factor in the start time of the game, but it played no factor in the outcome.

Adena started off sluggish, but quickly shook it off and exploded for seven runs in the third inning on the way to a 12-1 victory in five innings over the North Adams Devils in a Division III Sectional Final on Saturday afternoon.

“It was a sloppy day as far as the weather goes,” Adena coach Tom Barr said. “Our guys put in about two hours’ worth of work before we even started to get ready for the game, but I thought they were able to refocus and play very well. J.D (Blevins) did a good job; Gunnar Free was huge for us. The guys that we expect to step up for us stepped up and our seniors wanted this win since it’s the last time playing at home, and they took care of business.”

J.D. Blevins was masterful on the mound, throwing the complete game, giving up just four hits, walking one batter and sitting down 10 Devil batters. Although he was just 0 for 1 at the dish, he did reach base twice and scored on each trip.

“He was really good on the mound,” Barr said. “We’ve continued to harp on J.D. all season about pitching more efficient and throwing more strikes. We feel like our defense is very solid and we continue to work on getting his pitch count lower. He’s gotten better all year long. He came out and didn’t start the way we wanted him to, but he withstood the weather, rebounded and got more efficient as the game went along.”

The Warriors struck first in the opening inning. Leadoff hitter Collin Cory drew a walk, which was follow by Gunnar Free hitting a single, advancing Cory to third base. Jonathan Thomas hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Cory and giving Adena (18-7) a 1-0 lead.

Following a base hit by Cole Meade, the next three batters for North Adams struck out, but not before Meade scored the only Devil run of the day on a passed ball to tie the score at 1.

For that point on, it was all Adena.

North Adams committed two critical fielding errors, allowing Adena to put runners on base and in position to make the Devils pay. After Hayden Henness was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Cory stepped to the plate and ripped a 2-run double to regain the lead for Adena at 3-1. The next Warrior batter laid down a bunt and a bad throw to the catcher resulted in two more runners crossing the plate before a ground ball ended the inning.

“We haven’t bunted a lot this year,” Barr said. “We’ve worked on it since January and although we’re starting to bunt a little more, I was a little frustrated that we didn’t get a couple more bunts down that we wanted to, but we were very efficient with our small ball game and that’s something we’ll continue to work on.”

After North Adams left a runner on base to end the top half of the third, Adena put the game on ice. Following back-to-back walks by Jake Dawson and Blevins, Tommy Preston launched a double down the left field line, scoring Dawson and extending the lead to 6-1. Another fielding error by the Devils resulted in two more Adena runners crossing home plate, making the score 8-1.

Despite a pitching change, Adena refused to let off the gas. Thomas belted a double to right center field, scoring Bo Dratwa and Henness and pushing the score to 10-1. An RBI groundout by Braden Wilburn made the score 11-1, and while Dawson was caught in a rundown, Thomas crossed the plate, rounding out what would be the final score.

Free led the Warriors, going 3 for 3 at the plate with three singles, a run scored and an RBI. Cory went 1 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Thomas was 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored while Preston also went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Adena marches ahead to district tournament action Wednesday at VA Memorial Stadium, where they’ll square up with the winner between Southeastern and Crooksville.

“We want to win every day,” Barr said. “As long as we take care of business, we’re in good shape. We know a lot about Southeastern, they’ve played us twice and they’re tough. I don’t know anything about Crooksville at this point, but regardless of who we play if we go out and play our game, things will work out for us. It’s good to be a sectional championship, great positive for our seniors and our club, but we’re ready to keep going.”