NOBLESVILLE – The Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles needed a big hit in the bottom of the seventh on Tuesday night. Instead, they got a big break and bested rival Roncalli 4-3 on Senior Night with a bases-loaded walk-off wild pitch.

The two-game series opening victory kept the Class 3A No. 4 Golden Eagles on track to clinch the Circle City Conference title, and put the pressure on defending champion 4A No. 22 Roncalli, which sits at 5-2 in the standings with three more league games remaining.

The Golden Eagles are 8-1 in the CCC with their final league game today at Roncalli.

“This one had a tournament feel to it,” Guerin Catholic head coach Rich Andriole said. “We’re a game up in the loss column, but we haven’t won the conference.”

The Golden Eagles will have a shot at securing the championship in Game 2, but they had to overcome a 2-0 deficit followed by a 3-2 disadvantage before senior Bennet Ely got on base with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Ely was hit by a pitch to reach first base, then advanced to third on a hard hit single by sophomore Nate Bingham to right field. Senior Luke Godfrey, who went 2-for-3, was intentionally walked to load the bases, which setup freshman Braden Reel at the plate.

Reel never swung as reliever Brian Keeney’s first offering bounced past the backstop to score Ely for the walk-off.

The Golden Eagles entered their final at-bats focused after first baseman Sam Lewandowski was pushed down on a routine tag play against Roncalli’s Will Schoettle, who grounded out to third.

Schoettle ran into Lewandowski, a Bethal recruit, and knocked him on his back near the bag. The Golden Eagles rallied around their teammate after the final out in the top of the seventh and jogged into the dugout together.

“It motivated all of us in the last inning. It got us hyped, but we came out and got the win,” Lewandowski said. “That’s what it’s about.”

Schoettle sat the Golden Eagles down routinely through his 5 1/3 innings of work from the start. The right-hander struck out seven, walked one batter and hit another with six hits allowed.

He was pulled in the bottom of the sixth after Guerin Catholic had two runners in scoring position, trailing 3-2.

Junior Max Engelking delivered against Wabash commit Max Lundy with an RBI double to right field to tie the game 3-3. A two-run double by junior Keenan Taylor in the bottom of the fifth deadlocked the game 2-2.

“We were able to answer, and each team was able to get out of a couple of jams. We didn’t play a perfect game, and that wild pitch at the end probably wasn’t the pitch they had hoped for, but it a tight game that could have went either way,” Andriole said.

Engelking finished 2-for-3, and six of Guerin’s hitters recorded at least one of the team’s eight hits. Roncalli had nine hits, led by Dominic Brown’s 2-for-4 performance, but the Rebels stranded nine overall.

Roncalli took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth when Brown drilled a line drive double down the third-base line to score two.

Guerin starter Matt Parenteau went 5 innings with four strikeouts and one walk with two hit batters. He surrendered eight hits, but Bingham limited the damage in the clutch coming on in relief.

Facing two bases loaded situations in the top of the sixth, Bingham didn’t flinch.

The right-hander opened with a bunt single to Brayden Speziale before getting Nathan Gramman to line out to Reel, who doubled up the Rebels with a heads-up tag at third base. After walking Keeney, a UIndy commit, Bingham struck out Ryan Henry to extinguish the threat.

“Braden got a line out at third base and stepped on the bag. That was a huge play,” Andriole said. “We said to these guys out here, when you can play defense consistently well, and you can pitch it reasonably well, you always have a chance to win. Bases loaded with no outs, our pitching and our defense was able to get us out of that.”

Cole Beckman went 2-for-4 for the Rebels with a double in the top of the sixth to open the frame. Schoettle followed with a double to give Roncalli a 3-2 lead.

Parenteau hit Wabash recruit Tommy Hanson to put two on base before Bingham entered the game.

“It was a really good baseball game. We had the bases loaded in the sixth, nobody out and had a chance to break the game open, and we hit a line drive to get doubled up,” Roncalli head coach Aaron Kroll said. “That was the tough part of the game. Bases loaded and no out, you figure you’re going to get something. We didn’t get anything. That’s a tough break.”

Roncalli strung together six hits over the fifth and sixth innings, but couldn’t generate any offense against Bingham in the seventh.

The Rebels left four runners stranded in scoring position, but Speziale was a perfect 3-for-3 despite being unable to break through with opportunities in the second and sixth innings.

“Both teams had one conference loss, so it was an intense game,” Kroll said. “Nothing to be upset about on our end when you play like that. Play hard, play well, there’s nothing else you can ask for. We just didn’t get that break.”

Instead, the Golden Eagles control their own destiny after locking down their the win for their five seniors, including Donald Kane, Ely, Godfrey, Lewandowski and Parenteau.

“This was our last game every playing here as a team. It was a fun game and very important to us,” Godfrey said. “We grinded it out.”