Mars' arrett is safe at the plate as Pine-Richland's Jeremy Schmitt attempts the tag Wednesday night at Mars Boro Field. Mars won the game, 13-8, sweeping its best-of-five Eagle County semifinal series.

MARS — Its string of not allowing a run is over for Mars.

But the team's winning streak is still very much in tact.

Joey Lopez's single in the bottom of the sixth inning scored Peyton Russoniello to give Mars the lead for good in a 13-8 victory over Pine-Richland Wednesday at Mars Boro Field.

The victory completes the three-game semifinal sweep for Mars (27-2), which will face Cranberry Township in the championship series beginning Friday. Mars' most recent loss was a 3-2 defeat to Cranberry June 14.

There were four home runs in Wednesday's game, two by both teams. The final one — Bob Spithaler's grand slam with two outs in the sixth off of reliever Bryn Crawford — gave the hosts the final margin they would win by.

“A lot of the guys in this lineup have been hitting here for years,” said Spithaler. “We have a comfort level playing here and that helps. We've got a good mix of veterans and youth on the team and we feed off of each other.”

Including the first three innings of Wednesday's game, Mars pitchers had shut out Pine-Richland over the first 17 innings of the series. Mars entered the fourth inning with a 2-0 lead before P-R got to Mars starting pitcher Kane McCall.

Matt Kaminicky drilled a two-run double to left and Dante Sienko's base hit scored a third run.

Pine-Richland's lead was short-lived, however. Joe Sibeto's three-run double keyed a four-run fourth frame for Mars.

McCall, though, was not able to get out of the next inning. He surrendered three straight hits, the last a three-run homer to Zach Burkhart that tied the game at 6-6. Nick Gross relieved McCall and went on to pitch the final three innings for the win.

“Kane's got amazing stuff,” Mars player/manager Brendan Malone said of his starter. “Sometimes, he's his own worst enemy, but he has been great for us this year.”

The seesaw battle continued into Mars' half of the fifth. Dan Penberthy launched a two-run blast that gave Mars an 8-6 lead, but Pine-Richland's Zach Staszak matched him in the top of the sixth to tie the game once again.

“It was back-and-forth there for a while. It was home run derby,” said Malone. “You look at the final score, 13-8, it was like the old-fashioned slugfests they used to have here.”

Mars had runners on first and third with two outs in the sixth when Lopez tallied his clutch base hit.

Gross struck out two and walked none, allowing two runs on two hits for the win.

Mars went 2-1-1 against Cranberry during the regular season.

“This will be the eighth year in a row that we've faced them in the playoffs,” said Malone. “We know them and they know us. It should be a good series.

Pine-Richland manager Jeff Kline declined comment.

Pine-Richland 000 332 0 — 8 10 1

Mars 002 425 x — 13 7 1

W: Nick Gross 3 IP (2K, 0BB). L: Bryn Crawford 1.1 IP (1K, 1BB).

Pine-Richland (14-18): Zach Sharrer 1B 2B R, Zach Staszak 1B 2B HR 2R 2RBI, Jeremy Schmitt 2-1B 2R, Zach Burkhart HR 2R 3RBI, Matt Kaminicky 2B R 2RBI, Dante Sienko 1B RBI

Mars (27-2): Joey Lopez 1B 2B 2R 2RBI, Brendan Malone R RBI, Bob Spithaler GSHR 2R, Dan Penberthy HR 2RBI, Rick Krist 1B R, Scott Ventura R, Peyton Russoniello R, Garett Goslaw 2B 2R, Joe Sibeto 2B 2R 3RBI

Friday: Mars vs. Cranberry Township, Game 1 of best-of-five title series, TBD