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Benton's Jake Kretzer makes its safely to second base as a low throw makes it past Lafayette's Ben Hiserote during one of Tuesday's Pony Express Tournament semifinals on Tuesday afternoon at Hyde Park.

Mike Musser is sick of seventh-inning comebacks.

Three times this season, the Benton coach has watched his Cardinals build a hefty lead only to watch the opponent make things too close for comfort in the final frame. Lafayette did it in the City Round Robin. Then Chillicothe. Then Savannah.

The Cardinals didn’t leave the door open Tuesday, however, and slammed the Fighting Irish 19-9 in the semifinals of the Pony Express Tournament at Hyde Park No. 6.

“What we haven’t done is put people away,” Musser said. “We have a tendency sometimes to be complacent, and the kids want to concentrate on not doing that anymore.”

Benton will play Chillicothe today in the tournament’s championship game at 3 p.m. back at Hyde Park.

In a sloppy, teeter-totter contest,

Benton (10-1) blew the game open with a nine-run third inning and wrestled the lead back from a scrappy Lafayette squad in the process. Thirteen Cardinals came to the plate in the decisive inning and benefitted from four Irish errors to grab a 15-7 lead they wouldn’t give back.

A pair of Benton errors in the top of the fifth allowed Lafayette (3-7) to score a pair of runs and keep the game from a premature finish.

But Irish pitcher Cody Tannehill, the team’s fourth pitcher, continued to struggle with his control and allowed the game-ending run on a Johnny Coy double with just one out in the bottom of the fifth.

“Our defense is usually going to stop a team, but we’ve given up a few too many runs lately,” said Coy, who finished 4-for-4 with two doubles and a pair of RBIs. “Our bats are bailing out our defense big time.”

Every Cardinal hitter crossed the plate at least once, while Zack Colwell, Ryan Pinson and Josh Zuptich all scored three times.

After falling into an early 6-3 hole, Lafayette bounced back with a four-run, four-hit inning — capped by Grant Richardson’s two-run home run to left field. The long ball temporarily gave the Irish the lead at 7-6.

“These guys have a lot of fight in them. Offensively, I was pleased with how we hit the ball tonight and bounced back,” Leake said. “Most of the mistakes we made, we can work on those.”

But four Benton runners scored before Lafayette recorded an out in the third, as the Cardinals finally ramped up the offense and put the game out of reach. Benton will play for its third straight Pony Express title today against the Hornets, who lost to the Cardinals earlier this season.

“If you punch these guys in the nose, they’re gonna fight you back,” Musser said. “That’s been their mentality for long time. They’re going to keep coming.”

Chillicothe 8, Central 6

Originally asked to bunt and advance a pair of runners, Alex Singleton had a better idea.

Chillicothe’s No. 2 hitter wanted the chance to swing away and start a Hornet comeback. He did just that by launching a three-run homer to right field that gave Chillicothe (9-3) a tide of momentum during a seven-run fifth inning.

“He’s a very headsy baseball player. All these guys are,” Chillicothe coach Dave Mapel said. “I like it when these guys say something like that and take charge.”

After Singleton’s home run brought Chillicothe within a run, the lower part of the order completed the comeback against reliever Josh Thompson. The Hornets were forced to come from behind for a second straight game after falling into identical 5-0 deficits against Bishop LeBlond on Monday and Central the day after.

“I told them that we don’t have to make things this difficult,” Mapel said. “They’ve been the most aggressive group I’ve had as far as swinging the bats.”

Chillicothe pitcher Zach Dunn recovered from a rough first inning on the mound to throw a complete game — allowing just four hits after the first and striking out 10 Indians.

With a 5-1 advantage in the top of the fifth, Central (5-5) left the bases loaded and only pushed one runner past first base the rest of the way.

“We had our chance then to blow it open and didn’t take advantage of that,” Central coach Stan Weston said.

Keaton Steele provided the biggest boost offensively for Central, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and three runs scored.

Central takes on Lafayette for third place today at 5 p.m. Hyde Park No. 6.