By Bobby Allen

SDN Sports Editor

The Snyder Tigers got what they wanted Friday night, even if they didn’t get it the way they wanted it.

And all the breaks that were so elusive in Merkel were given back to the Tigers in spades at Moffett Field.

Snyder overcame a tepid offensive performance that produced just three hits with fearless base running and some help from a hapless Seminole defense to grind out a 6-5 victory and set up a showdown for the district trophy Tuesday at Sweetwater.

“This one is important from the standpoint that we will be playing for the district championship. We’ve already clinched, but we’re not settling for that,” head coach Charles Bollinger said. “We need to get on a roll. We didn’t play like we wanted to -- we have to play better in all facets of the game.”

The Tigers (18-4, 8-1) took an early 1-0 lead, with Blake Grimmett cracking a leadoff double and advancing to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a second wild pitch from Indians starter Trey Curiel.

Curiel and Snyder starter Ryan Mitchell battled to a stalemate until the third, when Seminole (11-9, 5-4) got to Mitchell with a walk, a pair of hits and three-run homer to give the Indians a 4-1 lead.

Collier relieved Mitchell with the one out and a man on third, and stopped the rally.

Seminole added another run in the top of the fifth, and Seminole’s Matt Hawkings was ejected for throwing a shoulder into shortstop Marcus Rodriguez during a run down.

Things fell apart for Seminole in the bottom of the fifth, as Hadley Hirt reached on an error and Eric Martinez worked a walk before Marcus Rodriguez reached on a throwing error on a bunt attempt to load the bases.

Curiel threw another wild pitch to score Hirt to make it 5-2, and Grimmett was plunked with a pitch to load the bases again.

Bradley Price followed with a misplayed chopper to first, and a throwing error on the play cleared the bases and tied the score at 5-5.

Isaac Ramon drove in Price for the game-winning run on a single. Ramon also saved a run in the top of the seventh, snagging a line dive and doubling up the Seminole runner at first.

“We know we can’t play aggressive if we don’t have anyone on base -- it hurts our philosophy and our game,” Bollinger said. “We finally put some pressure on them, and sure enough, they booted it around.”

The Tigers now face their most important game since last year’s final tilt with Canyon in the area round when they battle the 8-1 Mustangs, which beat Merkel Friday, at Sweetwater Tuesday.

Left fielder Marcus Villarreal said the win, and the way the Tigers earned it, was important, but that the team had some work to do before the final game of the regular season.

“I’m going to have to work on my hitting -- I’ll be in the cages for awhile,” he said. “We need to stay up on our defense and not let that beat like it did (against Merkel).”

Snyder will close out the district season at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mustang Field.