LACONIA — Trailing 1-0 to Conant in the top of the sixth inning, Belmont was hungry. Aside from a walk that was promptly erased by a double play, the Red Raiders’ offense had been shut down at the plate. They were in desperate need of a run.

They scored five.

In one inning, No. 4 Belmont (17-2) trumped undefeated No. 1 Conant (17-1) in the Division III baseball semifinal Tuesday evening. The outburst propelled the Red Raiders to a 5-2 win.

“I was a little concerned when we weren't hitting, going in there with that fifth or sixth inning,” head coach Matthew LeBlanc said. “And then once we got our first set, I said, ‘Okay, here we go.’”

The game got off to a slow start, with Conant not getting its first batter on base until the bottom of the fourth inning. Before that, both pitchers shut down the opposing lineups, and the outfielders caught everything hit their way. It remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Conant’s Brody Siervertson earned the team’s first run after stealing both second and third in one play and then scoring on an RBI single from Kaden Kirby.

With only two innings left, the pressure was on for Belmont to turn it around.

Sophomore Brayden Townsend opened with a single. Freshman Wyatt Bamford followed with the same, and after a misplayed grounder off the bat of freshman Max Ryder, Belmont had the bases loaded. 

As Hutch Haskins, the only senior on the team, stepped up to the plate, the umpire scolded the Belmont players in the dugout as they banged on the fence with increasing excitement.

A subsequent walk gave Belmont their first run. Then, after back-to-back outs, junior Anakin Underhill came to bat with the bases loaded. 

Foul ball. Ball. Ball. 

Underhill then smacked the fourth pitch far into right field. Ryder ran home. Haskins ran home. Even with the ball on its way to the plate, Belmont’s junior catcher Jaxon Embree took a gamble.

He dove. Through a flurry of dust, the umpire declared him safe. Three more runs for Belmont. The Red Raiders tacked on another when Underhill scored on an error, extending their lead to 5-1.

Conant scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth, but when Underhill struck out the Orioles’ first two batters in the final inning, the game was essentially over.

LeBlanc recognized Underhill as an MVP.

“Obviously,” he said. “He pitched for us, he had that big three RBI double.”

Belmont will face Monadnock, one of only two teams it’s lost to this season, for the state championship on Saturday. 

“Saturday is going to be tough,” LeBlanc said. “We know what we’re going to get with Monadnock. They’ve been there the last few years. They’ve got the best pitchers in the state. They’ve got the player of the year.” 

But he’s not too worried.

“It takes a team effort, and look at these fools,” LeBlanc said, gesturing to the dugout, as his players bounced around like ping pong balls inside, shouting the lyrics to Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” in celebration. “They’re a team.”

Sofie Buckminster can be reached at sbuckminster@cmonitor.com.