No matter its fate involving the postseason, the Spring Woods baseball team will look back at games like Tuesday and be thankful they gutted out a close victory.

That’s been a familiar theme all year for the Tigers, who edged visiting Eisenhower 3-2 in eight innings in a District 19-5A game.

The win kept the Tigers (9-9 overall, 6-3 district) firmly in the top four in the district, which currently has four teams vying for the second, third and fourth playoff spots behind first-place Memorial.

Andrew Olson pitched seven solid innings and allowed only four hits, then got the game-winning single with two outs in the eighth.

“We’ve been battling all year like this,” Spring Woods coach Brian Keefe said. “The pitching has been good and the defense has been good but we’ve struggled at the plate. We haven’t scored a whole lot of runs, and that’s why we’ve had a few extra-inning games.”

Indeed, the Tigers lost a handful of golden opportunities to win the game in regulation. They took a 2-1 lead in the third inning but left two runners on in both the fifth and seventh.

Eisenhower (6-14, 1-8) opened the door in the eighth when Chris Bedford’s fly ball to right was dropped.

Ray Hernandez and Doran Seiler were intentionally walked before Olson’s line drive just inside the third-base bag.

“I knew (Eagles pitcher Adrian Rivera) was gonna throw me some junk pitch, and sure enough he started me with a curveball and I let that go,” Olson said. “I was looking for any line drive up the middle, and he threw me a pitch inside and I hit it. Inside pitches are my favorite pitches.

“I had to look and see (if the hit was fair).”

Olson, who pitched all 11 innings of a loss to Memorial seven days prior, struck out seven and walked two. He was lifted after seven innings; Sammy Bissett retired Eisenhower in order in the eighth.

“He (Olson) is a gutsy pitcher,” Keefe said. “I was determined to keep him to seven innings tonight, so we took him out and put Sammy in and he did a good job in relief.”

Sebastian Yanez’s first-inning single to right gave Eisenhower a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers went ahead in the third. Hernandez singled to short center, Seiler reached on an error and both scored on Bissett’s two-run double to right.

Spring Woods entered Tuesday tied with Nimitz for third in 19-5A. MacArthur was a game ahead in second at 6-2; Memorial was undefeated (8-0).

Results of Tuesday’s other 19-5A games were not immediately available.

Spring Woods plays Stratford on Friday and Nimitz next Tuesday.

“There are no easy ones,” Keefe said. “We just have to battle in every one of them.”

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