ADAMS TWP - The baseball, the pitcher and the runner arrived at first base at nearly the same time.

The runner won the race - and Mars II won the game.

Mars II forced a deciding game in its best-of-three opening round Eagle County League baseball playoff series with Mars I when Matt Rovnan dove across first base before pitcher Steve Cunningham's foot came down on the bag Wednesday night at Marburger Field.

Because Rovnan was safe, Chet Shaffer scored the winning run from third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving Mars II a 4-3 victory.

"Drama, pure drama," a grinning Rovnan said. "The play was close, but my hand definitely touched the base before (Cunningham's) foot came down.

"I knew I was safe. If it went the other way, I might have beat him up," he added, poking fun at the umpire.

The Mars I dugout was in no laughing mood after the game.

"The umpire called him safe, so he was safe," Mars I co-coach Rob Fester said. "It's his call to make, not ours.

"They made the plays. We didn't. That's why we're playing tomorrow."

Mars I stranded 12 base runners on the night, six in scoring position. It had runners at first and third with one out in the fourth and eighth innings, had runners at second and third with one out in the fifth, and none scored.

Trailing 3-1 in the top of the seventh, Mars I rallied to tie the game. Pinch-hitter Mike Sheehy walked to open the frame and Dan DeMarco blooped a double to left-center.

Sheehy scored on a wild pitch while DeMarco took third. One out later, Ed DeRose hit a sacrifice fly to center to knot the game.

"I thought we were done at that point," Rovnan admitted. "That took a lot of wind out of us."

Brian Hart threw 130 pitches in the first seven innings for Mars II. Josh Rape replaced him on the mound to begin the eighth.

"Brian was getting tired and Josh was fresh because he hasn't pitched in a while," Mars II manager Scott Shankel said. "The time was right to make the change.

"Brian pitched a great game and we made a lot of clutch plays behind him."

None was bigger than center fielder Tony Deane's catch to close out the top of the fifth. Mars II opted to walk Greg Reinhart intentionally to load the bases with two outs for No. 4 batter Paul Westwood.

Westwood hit a deep drive to left center that Deane caught as he slid into the outfield fence.

Cunningham pitched all eight innings for Mars I and allowed just three hits over the final seven frames. The left-hander threw 113 pitches.

Mars II greeted Cunningham with four consecutive hits and three runs to begin the bottom of the first. Adam Schmidhammer and Hart both doubled to left. Deane and Rovnan followed with RBI singles to center.

That was the extent of Mars II's run production until the eighth. No. 9 hitter Chet Shaffer began the inning with a single to right. Schmidhammer tried bunting him to second, but popped out to the catcher.

Hart walked and a wild pitch moved up both runners. Deane looked at a called third strike and Cunningham got an 0-2 count on Rovnan.

Rovnan hit a sharp grounder to first that bounced off first baseman Ron Talik's chest. He retrieved the ball and flipped to Cunningham covering the bag.

Rovnan dove for the bag and got there before Cunningham.

"This is a great game when our two teams get together," Shankel said. "We love playing them."

Mars I 100 000 20 - 3 7 2

Mars II 300 000 01 - 4 7 1

2 outs when winning run scored

WP:

Josh Rape (1 IP) 0 strikeouts, 1 walk.

LP:

Steve Cunningham (8 IP) 7 strikeouts, 2 walks

Mars I (20-9):

Rege Burris 1B, Ed DeRose RBI, Greg Reinhart 1B, Paul Westwood RBI, Matt Colella 2B, E.J. Wheeler 2B, Matt Sondej 2B, Dan DeMarco 1B 2B

Mars II (11-18):

Adam Schmidhammer 2B, Brian Hart 2B 1B RBI, Tony Deane 1B RBI, Matt Rovnan 2-1B RBI, Chet Shaffer 1B

Today:

Mars II @ Mars I, 6 p.m.