ZELIENOPLE — Matthew Donnelly picked up where he left off.

Zelienople’s No. 5 hitter was 3-for-4 in Tuesday’s Eagle County League baseball playoff, which was suspended due to darkness with Zelie and Pine-Richland tied at 9 after eight innings.

Donnelly was the first batter Pine-Richland reliever Eric Mikulan faced in Wednesday’s continuation and the former set the table for his teammates with a single to right field in the bottom of the ninth frame.

Following two unsuccessful attempts at a sacrifice bunt by Lee Lawver, he singled and both runners advanced on Pat Zehnder’s groundout.

With the infield playing in, Nick Lewandowski hit a sharp grounder to first baseman J.R. Willard, who made the stop before bobbling the ball. His throw home was a split second too late to get the sliding Donnelly as Zelienople prevailed 10-9 and forced a third and final game, which will be played at 6 p.m. today at Pine-Richland High School’s field.

“With a guy at third base and just one out, we were hoping for a groundball hit right at somebody,” said P-R manager Jeff Kline. “That’s exactly what we got, but were just unable to make the play.”

Donnelly and Mikulan were formerly teammates on Hampton’s high school team.

“I was looking for a first-pitch fastball and he threw me a curveball. That surprised me a bit,” said Donnelly, who was using a towel to wipe the blood from a gash on his left arm sustained during his slide into home plate. “I figured I’d get a fastball at some point and that’s what I hit.

“I like doing whatever to help the team. I knew that if I got on, the guys behind me could bring me in.”

Scott Lumley earned the pitching win. He entered the game with the bases loaded and no outs in Tuesday’s seventh inning. Though he was on the mound when P-R scored its final three runs to tie the game, they were all charged to starter Andrew Emes. Lumley then worked perfect eighth and ninth frames.

“He’s come in and done the job a lot of times for us this season,” said Zelienople manager Stew Weimer.

The winner of today’s game will face top-seeded Mars II (24-6) in the semifinals.

The other semifinal series will match Mars (23-7) against Cranberry Township (21-11).

Pine-Richland 200 012 400 — 9 11 2

Zelienople 210 060 001 — 10 14 0

W: Scott Lumley 3 IP (1K, 0BB). L: Eric Mikulan 2.1 IP (1K, 0BB).

Pine-Richland (15-17): Paul Nussbaum 2R, Mike Wood 1B 2R RBI, Zach Sharrer 1B 2B 2RBI, J.R. Willard 2-1B R 2RBI, Andy Fritz RBI, Zach Staszak 1B 2B R, Dylan Williams 2-1B RBI, Andrew Nussbaum 1B R, Matt Kaminicky 1B 2R

Zelienople (8-24): Noah Medich 3B R, Alex Dunaway 2R RBI, Brandon Durbin 1B R, Tad Forsythe 2B R, Matthew Donnelly 3-1B 2B 2R 3RBI, Mark Weimer 1B R, Pat Zehnder 2B R 2RBI, Nick Lewandowski 1B R 2RBI, Justin White 3-1B RBI, Lee Lawver 1B

Today: Zelienople at Pine-Richland, Game 3 at 6 p.m.