PINE GROVE - Always listen to your father.

Marian's Mason Evitts used his dad's advice during the fifth inning of a Schuylkill League semifinal contest with North Schuylkill and it paid major dividends.With two strikes, two outs, and the game tied at 1-1, a single swing of Evitts' bat cleared the bases and helped catapult the Colts to a 5-2 upset victory over the Spartans."I was down in the count and I knew the next pitch was coming outside," said Evitts about his opposite-field triple that rolled to the fence. "My dad always told me that when you when see it's coming outside, to just go with it. As soon as I saw it, I just took it to right field."The second baseman's hit was just the third yielded by Spartans' ace Bobby Grigas, who struck out four of the first seven Colts he faced. However, Marian found a variety of ways to put runners on base in front of Evitts. Dante Salerno wore a fastball, Rob Hinkle walked, and KJ Snerr reached on an error."We practiced just putting the ball in play all week and making them work," explained Evitts. "We just kept pushing and we knew we could make it here. There was a lot of hard work and dedication (to get here)."The Colts' Teague Schmidt didn't know he was pitching until Sunday night, but it didn't matter. He forced six of the first seven North Schuylkill batters to roll over into ground balls, which was the product of keeping the ball down in the zone and hitting his spots.Schmidt tossed four and two-thirds innings, scattered four hits, and struck out four."I wasn't expecting it, but I wanted to give my team the best chance to win," he said. "The main thing I was told is that I was going to have to throw off-speed, because that's how they lost a few games."Although Marian didn't rack up the hits, the Colts put the ball in play and the Spartans committed four errors.The Colts tagged on an insurance run in the sixth frame on a pair of uncharacteristic Spartan throwing errors. Catcher Chris Burke tried to pick off Joe Nahas at second base, but his throw went into center field. As Nahas slid into third, Grigas, who was then playing center field, airmailed his throw into the Walter Stump Stadium seats above the visiting dugout, allowing Nahas to score."Everybody was complaining about the rain the last couple of weeks, but it was actually a blessing in disguise," said Marian coach Tony Radocha. "We were able to get into the gym every day and set up hitting stations, work on bunting, and situational hitting ... it paid off. Today we were able to put the ball in play. If you want to be successful, you have to do that. You can't stand there and take three strikes."When you put pressure on the other team, sometimes they respond, and sometimes they don't. Today we were able to take advantage of what they did. I couldn't have dialed it up any better. It worked to perfection and I'm just so excited."FIRST TIME … Since the Schuylkill League resumed its postseason baseball playoffs in 2009, Marian has never reached the league championship and no Division 3 team has ever won it.INSTANT RELIEF… Marian's Joe Nahas wasn't fully rested after pitching seven innings of one-hit ball Thursday in the division-clincher against Panther Valley, so the Colts' ace didn't get the start Monday. But the adrenaline kicked in during the game as he came in and dazzled during the final three frames. He struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced to shut the door on the Spartans.WEB-GEM … Marian shortstop Salerno saved a run on a tricky chopper in the fourth inning. Salerno had to readjust in the air, while reaching backward and above his head to bare-hand the baseball. If he didn't make the sensational grab, the Spartans' runner on second base would have likely scored a go-ahead run.Marian 000 131 0 - 5 4 2No. Schuylkill 001 010 0 - 2 6 4Schmidt, Nahas (5), and Snerr; B. Grigas, Steinhilber (6) and Burke. W - Schmidt. L - B. Grigas.