The Chieftains scored just enough to get a first-round, 4-3 regional victory against Perry-Lecompton on Monday at Leavenworth County Fairgrounds and advanced to their Class 4A regional semifinals.

THS coach Phil Loomis said a one-run victory was fine with him because close games are a part of playoff baseball. He said the days of run-rule victories for THS are a thing of the past.

“We don’t bat aggressively enough or well enough to,” Loomis said of postseason mercy-rule wins.

With the game tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the sixth inning, THS junior Tyler Lupton broke out of a small slump with a lofty double to the right-field gap that drove in Jace Waters, who led off the inning with a walk and reached second after a sacrifice bunt from Ethan Lorance.

Lupton said he needed the, go-ahead RBI-double as much as the team did.

“I didn’t think I really hit it that far and it just kept carrying with the wind,” he said. “My confidence hasn’t been there at all. So to have that hit go up in the air is like crucial. It was a big confidence booster for us.”

The Chieftains, 14-6 entering a Tuesday semifinal with Eudora, were able to pull off the low-scoring win because of their pitching. Junior Brandon Yoder threw six innings and struck out nine. Although he got into some jams — bases loaded with one out in the second and no outs in the sixth — he was a tourniquet, keeping the bleeding minimal. Loomis said that was because THS kept things simple.

The coach told the players before the game, “Don’t do anything spectacular, don’t make the spectacular play, just one out at a time.”

But spectacular is all right every once in a while. Waters relieved Yoder in the seventh and he got some highlight-worthy help from second baseman Dylan Caywood, who dove to his right to stop a grounder up the middle before throwing the PLHS runner out from his knees.

Waters retired the next two batters to earn the save.

THS took an early 1-0 lead in the first. Blaize Oelschlaeger led off with a single and later scored on a ground out by Waters.

Oelschlaeger scored one of Tonganoxie’s two runs in the third. The senior led off the inning with a walk and three batters later, Waters scored him with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Yoder later scored to give THS a 3-1 lead when Lorance drove him home with a single to right field.

Rob Schlicht went 1-for-2 at the plate for the Chieftains and Dylan Puhr was 1-for-2 with a stolen base.

THS only totaled five hits in the win. Not exactly an offensive explosion, but as far as the coaches and players are concerned, it’s the playoffs and a win is a win.

Said Yoder: “It isn’t going to be easy. We’re going to win games, 2-1. We’re not gonna win games 12-2 anymore.”

Tonganoxie plays host to Eudora at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The winner advances to a regional final against the winner of DeSoto and Ottawa. That semifinal begins at 2 p.m. at Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.