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(Newsdakota.com)–In do-or-die moments, you turn to your senior to deliver.

Tanner Groth delivered for the Falcons Friday.

In a one-game playoff for a regional tournament berth, Groth delivered a two-hit shutout and the Falcons advanced, knocking off Fairmount-Hankinson 2-0.

The effort was not without drama. After at one point retiring 11 staight batters and striking out six, Groth took a 2-0 lead into the seventh.

After another strikeout, the trouble started.

Two two-out walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases and put the go-ahead run aboard for F-H, sending catcher Taylor Campbell to the plate and head coach Kevin Bratland to the hill to chat with Groth.

“He started working too fast. I wanted him to slow down,” said Bratland.

It worked. Groth caught Campbell with a curve ball for a called strike three, ending the threat and the game, and sending the Falcons to Hope for regional play Monday.

Groth also started the offense in the first, when the Falcons would score the only two runs of the game. He doubled to right-center after retiring the side in order a half-inning beforehand.

Spencer Gillund followed with a single, and an error by D’Angelo Burns on Thomas Lindgren’s grounder put the Falcons up 1-0.

After Josh Michaelson drew a one-out walk to load the bases, Gareth Hanson lifted a sacrifice to center, plating Gillund for the 2-0 edge.

Groth took care of the rest, with nifty help from the middle infield. During the stretch of 11 straight retired, Gillund showed range on a Connor Meyer roller to the right side, gloving the ball on the run and flipping to an alert Groth, who covered the first-base bag.

Groth picked leadoff hitter Cam Lenzen off of first after a cat-and-mouse game in the third. After the streak ended on Meyer’s fifth-inning walk, shortstop Dylan Lerud ended the threat by dashing to a ball on the second-base side off Campbell’s bat, hurling to Gillund at the bag to force Meyer.

The Falcons ran well, stealing three bases, but Bratland knows it will take more than the five hits his team had to win further.

“We haven’t been scoring a lot of runs, and we will need some big two-out hits,” Bratland remarked.

The Falcons take the sixth-seed to Hope Monday, where they will face third-seeded Central Cass, a team with several players back from last year’s state-champion Legion team.

First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday. Broadcast coverage will continue on The Raven 103.1 FM at 3:10 p.m.