UPPER ST. CLAIR TWP — Its departure time may have been delayed, but the Seneca Valley baseball team is still headed to where it wants to be — the WPIAL championship game.

In a semifinal contest that began on Monday, the Raiders managed a six-run fifth inning in defeating Central Catholic 9-5 Tuesday afternoon at Boyce-Mayview Park.

SV (17-4) will face Mt. Lebanon, which defeated North Allegheny 3-2 on Monday, in the Class AAAA title game at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30 at Consol Energy Field in Washington.

The Raiders led 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning Monday when lightning put a stop to the game. They saw that lead cut in half Tuesday when the Vikings’ Dom Fazio tripled and scored on Sabbatino DiNardo’s groundout in the bottom of the fourth.

When they picked up the bats in the next half inning, SV’s hitters more than made up for it.

With Central Catholic starter Dan Smith still on the mound, Zach Spangler and Carson Kessler singled and Connor Coward walked to load the bases with one out.

Zach Creedon laced a single to left, scoring Spangler. Kessler also scored on the play after a fielding error to put SV up 4-1.

“Zach (Creedon) is the No. 9 guy in our batting order,” said Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega. “For him to come through there with a hit, turning the order over, that was huge.”

With two outs, Brad Gresock contributed a run-scoring base hit and Sam Fragale doubled in two more runs, ending Dan Smith’s outing on the mound.

The Vikings (17-5-1) would need two more pitchers — Matt Stoessel and Fazio — to finally get out of the inning. Before that, however, Jason Martin singled in another run for an 8-1 lead.

For the game, SV tallied 14 hits.

“Our sticks came through today,” said Semega. “The offense put us in a position to win.”

Trailing 9-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Vikings made things interesting against SV reliever Zach DeTillio, scoring three runs on three hits. But with a runner on second, the right-hander got Cole Carlino to fly out to end the game.

“When it was (8-1), I told the guys that this game was not over,” said Semega. “Central Catholic has some very good hitters and they made a run.”

Semega was faced with a big decision before action resumed Tuesday — stick with starting pitcher Matt Smith or go with a reliever.

“I had to see how he felt and it was basically a game-time decision,” Semega said. “I asked him and he said he felt fine.”

Smith then went out and proved he was not negatively affected by the layoff.

He threw six innings, gave up two runs on five hits while striking out eight and walking one.

However, Smith did run into a jam in the bottom of the fifth.

With the bases loaded and just one out, he struck out M.P. Buckley on a breaking pitch. Fazio then drove in a run on an infield single before DiNardo looked at a called third strike.

The Vikings needed more than just one run out of the inning, but Smith wasn’t about to give it to them.

“In a way, I was trying to hit my spots to perfection and the ball started to get away from me,” Smith said of loading the bases on a single, a hit batsman and a walk. “I just had to get it back in the zone.”

“A hit here or there and we would’ve gotten back in the game before it got out of hand,” said Central Catholic coach Frank LaCava. “(Matt) Smith is a competitor and he kept us off-balanced. Seneca Valley is a great program and I’m proud of the way we battled back.”

Creedon and Spangler both tallied three singles in the game for Seneca, while Fazio led the Vikings with a pair of singles and a triple.

The Raiders will look to win back-to-back district crowns when they face the Blue Devils next week. Seneca defeated Peters Township in last year’s final.

“We know how hard it is to get to where we’re going next week,” said Semega. “For us to get that opportunity again, especially for the younger kids, it’s great.”

Seneca Valley 200 061 0 — 9 14 0

Central Catholic 000 110 3 — 5 8 3

W: Matt Smith 6 IP (8K, 1BB). L: Dan Smith 4.2 IP (4K, 3BB).

Seneca Valley (17-4): Jon Dorogy 1B R, Brad Gresock 1B 2B RBI, Sam Fragale 2B 2R 2RBI SB, Zach Spangler 3-1B R RBI, Jason Martin 2-1B RBI, Carson Kessler 2-1B R, Connor Coward 2R, Zach Creedon 3-1B R RBI, John Choma R

Central Catholic (17-5-1): Garrett Vrbanic 1B, Cameron Balego 2B R RBI, M.P. Buckley RBI, Dom Fazio 2-1B 3B R RBI, Sabbatino DiNardo 2RBI, Dave O’Leary 2B, Zach Rudge 2-1B 2R, Travis Cully R

May 30: Seneca Valley vs. Mt. Lebanon, WPIAL Quad A title game, 8 p.m. at Consol Energy Field