MARS — Jimmy Devine fielded Alex Ziegler's grounder figuring he had an easy out.

Then Devine threw the ball away.

By the end of the inning, the Mars pitcher faced the bases loaded with two outs.

No worries.

Devine settled in, forcing a groundout to work out of the jam.

It was just the start as Devine struck out 10 in a 5-2 win over Mars II in Game 3 of the Eagle County baseball championship series Thursday night at Marburger Field.

“I thought he was out and then I made a bad throw,” Devine said. “I knew I needed to bear down and minimize the damage.”

Mars, the four-time defending champion, leads the best-of-5 series, 2-1.

With a win today at Callery Field, Mars can seal another title.

The first inning was wild all around.

After Ziegler reached on an error, Eric King followed with a single.

Gabe Stephenson doubled to deep right-center, scoring Ziegler.

King scored on a groundout by Trent Smith to put Mars II up 2-0.

“I told Jimmy make sure you're loose before the game starts,” Mars manager Brendan Malone said. “Every first inning he does something stupid like that. All of a sudden, that's it. I don't know if he doesn't get mad until he gives them a head start or what it is.”

Erratic defensive play allowed Mars to catch up quickly.

The first two batters Mars II pitcher Nick Rossmiller faced — Shane Hein and John Tavares — reached on errors.

Hein stole second and scored on a double by Malone.

Tavares scored to tie the game when Dan Penberthy hit into a fielder's choice and the throw home wasn't clean.

Bob Spithaler put Mars ahead 3-2 when he singled in Malone.

A throwing error— Mars II's fourth of the inning — allowed Penberthy to score on a fly ball.

Mars II manager Eric King, who had two singles, also had two errors.

“That's baseball, if you have a couple of errors you have to work through it,” King said. “We played well through the rest of the game, but it was too much to overcome.”

That was all Devine needed.

Mars II finished with four hits and only had one runner in scoring position after the first inning.

“It was great they picked me up right away,” Devine said. “I tried to do the same thing I do every inning. Attack the hitters and make them hit good pitches.”

King wasn't sure why they struggled to pick up Devine's pitches.

“I don't know what he was doing that much different,” King said. “He was getting ahead in the count a lot, I know. We tried to tell our guys to be aggressive, but he did a nice job of settling down.”

Mars added an insurance run in the fifth inning on a double by Jake Pilewicz.

Tempers flared in the fifth inning after King was hit by a pitch.

King was plunked earlier in the at-bat, but it was ruled the ball hit his bat before hitting him.

The next batter, Stephenson, was ejected on the bench after striking out. Stephenson was alledgedly complaining about the call.

Both teams were warned in the first inning after the Mars dugout rode the umpire about a disputed blocking the plate call.

Mars II 200 000 0 — 2 4 5

Mars 400 010 5 — 5 6 3

W: Jim Devine 7IP (10K, 4BB). L: Nick Rossmiller 6IP (6K, 6BB).

Mars II: Eric King 2-1B, Gabe Stephenson 2B, Alex Ziegler 1B.

Mars: Brendan Malone 2B, Bob Spithaler 1B 2B, John Tavares 2B, Jake Pilewicz 2B, Dan Penberthy 1B.

Today: Game 4, 6 p.m. at Callery Field