Staff photo / Preston Byers. Girard’s baseball team celebrates as Jaden Royal (4) slides into home for the game-winning run during Wednesday’s game vs. Poland at Liberty Park.

GIRARD — Girard, which entered the bottom of the seventh inning of Wednesday’s Northeast 8 game vs. Poland down 3-1, scored three runs, the final two of which on a Zach Ward walk-off double, to defeat the Bulldogs 4-3.

Ward’s double lifted Girard to its 11th win of the season and pulled the Indians within half a game of the top of the NE-8.

“Happy for our guys,” Girard coach Aaron Alejars said. “That’s been a premier team in the area for years and years. So [this is] a nice experience for our guys to just win in that kind of fashion there. Really happy for our guys.”

The Indians fell behind in the first inning after Carmine Tukalo stole home while Girard’s infield was focused on Jacob Hayes stealing second base. Poland extended its lead in the third inning when Tukalo scored on a passed ball to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

Mike Daley pushed Poland’s advantage to three runs in the top of the fourth inning with a two-out single to left field, which drove in Owen McKenzie.

Despite picking up two outs immediately to start the bottom of the fourth inning, Girard cut into the lead following a pair of walks and an RBI single by Camron Herrick.

The Indians remained behind in the fifth and sixth after leaving runners on base. In the fifth, Evan Tuttle grounded out with bases loaded, while three consecutive batters failed to advance Kaiden Clare after a leadoff single in the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, after Dominick Tolone retired the side in order, Girard continued its comeback.

Will Hynes led off the half-inning with a single to right field before Dominic Phillips drew a walk to bring the winning run to the plate. Jaden Royal then drove in the Indians’ second run of the game on a single to right, which scored Hynes and moved Phillips to third.

Royal’s hit prompted a pitching change for the Bulldogs, who replaced starter Jacob Hayes with Joe Zuccaro. Before Zuccaro could throw a pitch, though, Royal stole second base, putting both runners on base in scoring position.

Ward, the third batter in Girard’s order, then drove in both Phillips and Royal on a double, launching a celebration at home plate and second base for the Indians.

“If you don’t believe, something like that can’t happen,” Alejars said. “The only way you come back is if you believe.”

Alejars’s belief in Tolone also paid off. The Girard starter walked three batters of the first 10 batters he faced and ran into some trouble in the middle innings.

Still, Alejars never stopped believing in him.

“Tolone, our guy, he’s had an arm injury, and he battled back there. … To go the whole game there and just overcome and just stay with it and give us a chance to do that, I’d like to commend him and his efforts there,” Alejars said. “[He was] just keeping his head even from behind, pitching from behind, but kept holding them at base there, and he gave us a chance to pull that off.”

For Poland, Wednesday’s loss marks just the second time this season the Bulldogs have not come out as winners.

“It was a good baseball game,” Poland head coach Rich Murray said. “Stinks ending up on the losing end of it, but that was a good baseball game. Both teams played well, a clean game. I mean, their pitcher did a great job. He threw strikes. A little shaky in the first inning, but after that, he settled in and he was good.”

Murray downplayed the effect the loss would have on his team emotionally. Instead, he said it affects them the most in the NE-8, where Poland now finds itself in second place behind Hubbard.

As for the Indians (11-6, 4-2), Wednesday’s win puts them behind Poland (11-2, 5-2) by just half a game in the NE-8 standings. Girard lost its first meeting of the season with Hubbard 8-6 on Monday and can complete the sweep of Poland when the teams match up in the regular-season finale on May 17.

Both teams are scheduled to play next on May 5, as Girard hosts South Range, while Poland plays at home vs. Niles.