The Whitko baseball team won the program’s first-ever sectional championship Monday night at Wabash. Coach Erik Hisner’s team advances to the Wabash Regional on Saturday (Photo courtesy of Whitko Athletics Twitter)

WABASH – The Whitko baseball team quenched its thirst for a sectional championship Monday night.

The No. 10 Wildcats earned the first-ever tournament title in program history with a 5-3 win over No. 12 Cass in the finale of the Class 2-A Wabash Sectional.

The victory, which clinched the first sectional crown in 43 years, sends the No. 10 Wildcats back to Wabash on Saturday for regional play. Whitko will face Wapahani (16-11) in the second semifinal at approximately 1 p.m. No. 1 Lafayette Central Catholic (29-3), who was state runner-up in 2016, meets Blackford (17-12) in the 11 a.m. opener. The winners then meet Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. for the regional title.

The Wabash Regional winner will move on to the North Semistate, which will be played at either Plymouth or Kokomo on June 10. The IHSAA will make semistate assignments on June 4.

Drew Bradford had an awful lot to do with the Wildcats claiming the hardware Monday. The senior right-hander earned the win on the hill by going 5 1/3 strong innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits, while striking out seven and walking four.

Bradford also had the hit of the game for Whitko. He delivered a two-run single in the top of the fifth to break a 3-3 deadlock to plate the final two runs.

Whitko took a 3-0 lead right out of the gate in the top of the first frame. River West made it 1-0 with an RBI single and then Bradford scored on a double steal for a 2-0 lead. Zach Hewitt then trotted home on a balk for a 3-0 advantage.

No. 12 Cass, which finishes at 17-6, scored twice in the second and once in the third to tie the game at 3-3. Caden Zeck drove home two runs with a double in the second and Evan Ohman cracked an RBI single in the third frame to tie the game for Cass.

West came on in relief and was outstanding to earn the save. He went the final 1 1/3 inning and allowed no hits and struck out one.

Bradford finished the win 2-4 at the plate with two RBI. Spencer Sroufe was 2-3 with a double for the champions.

Ohman was 2-4 with an RBI at the dish for Cass. Alec Eurit went the distance on the hill, giving up five runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Each team had seven hits in the contest. Whitko had a pair of errors, while Cass committed none.

Coach Erik Hisner’s Whitko squad improves to 21-9 heading into regional play.