Staff photo / Dan Hiner Canfield pitcher Anthony Groner delivers during Thursday’s Division IV district final against University School at North Ridgeville.

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — The Canfield baseball team just needed one or two more things to go its way on Thursday at North Ridgeville.

The Cardinals came up just short, falling to University School 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh in the Division IV, Northeast 5 district final.

“The kids played a great game,” Canfield head coach Matt Weymer said. “We did a great job executing up and down the lineup. Got some bunts down, some clutch hitting and obviously hit a big home run there. Offense did everything we could ask. Had some chances to add on, didn’t take advantage of all of those.”

The Cardinals led 2-0 after two innings, but the Preppers started to get their bats going in the bottom of the third.

University’s Kyle Wilson singled and stole second to start the comeback. Will Allen got the Preppers on the board with an RBI single to left field, and he advanced to second base on the throw home.

Then the Preppers (25-5) tied it two apiece when Jack Nelson singled to center field and drove in Allen.

However, the Cardinals (21-8) immediately got the lead back with some small ball.

In the top of the fourth, Patrick Groner reached on a leadoff single to center. Then Louie Zorella dropped down a bunt, and the throw to first sailed into foul ground in right field, which allowed Patrick Groner to score.

In the fifth, Anthony Groner helped his own cause by pulling a leadoff homer to right field, pushing Canfield’s lead to 4-2.

University had a shot at doing some damage in the sixth. The Preppers loaded the bases with two out, and Caden Zelenak and Allen both walked to force home a run, tying the game 4-4.

Anthony Groner exited the game after 5 2/3 innings pitched, and Joey Gabriel came on the pitch with the top of the order coming up.

Gabriel punched out James Bucci looking to keep the game tied.

“(Anthony Groner) got tired. You can second-guess yourself until the end of time, but he’s been our guy since he was a freshman,” Weymer said. “We’ll take him in that spot 100 out of 100. I’m sure he’s disappointed, but we trust him there. He gets it for us every time. And if we’re in that spot again, hopefully, we’ll leave him out there again. I’d have no doubts that he’d get us out of that spot and into the next round.”

Anthony Groner reached on a fielder’s choice, and Dovich walked with one out in the seventh. But the next two Cardinals struck out.

Jack Nelson doubled to start the bottom of the seventh for the Preppers, and Bobby Berglund drove in the winning run with an RBI single to center, concluding a 5-4 win for the Preppers.

“Give (the Preppers) credit. When the plays needed to be made, they made them,” Weymer said.

The loss marked the end of the high school careers for three seniors: Jaden Wurst, Dom Polkovitch and Theo Richards.

“Jaden and (Richards) have been with us for four years. They were constants in the offseason,” Weymer said. “Richards’ always throwing, always working. Jaden’s always hitting, taking groundballs. They set the tone, they’re in the weight room. They just set a great example for everybody else in the program. They took that torch from the kids from last year. The juniors now will take that torch from them.

“We were lucky enough to have Dom Polkovitch transfer from Ursuline this year. He made that transition really easy as a senior coming into a situation where we had a lot of kids coming back. He accepted the role that we gave him, and he was great throughout the year. All three of them, different scenarios, but all pillars of the program for what you want to see going forward.”

Wurst and Richard had some of the more successful runs with the program. They reached the regional final last year as juniors, and, over their four-year careers, made the district championship every season.

“We want to get to this game as many times as you can to take a swing,” Weymer said. “University’s the two seed for a reason. We came into this bracket knowing that if we got this chance, it would be this type of game. We take our team (against) anybody in the state. We’re really confident in what we do. We just didn’t get it done. Last year we did, this year we didn’t.

“Next year, the goal will be to start small. Offseason, work all year, building brick by brick again, and trying to get back to this game. The more times you get to this game and take a swing at it, the more you feel you’re gonna get through more times than not.”