ATHENS — One big inning was enough to get Steubenville to the Region 7 Final, but another big inning was not enough for Big Red on Friday evening at Trautwein Field inside Bob Wren Stadium.

Circleville jumped out to a six-run lead, regained composure after Steubenville got within two with a four-run fourth and pulled back ahead to defeat Big Red 9-4 and advance to next week’s state tournament.

“Their two big innings were better than our one big inning,” Steubenville coach Fred Heatherington said. “We needed more. We didn’t get the timely hit, and when you don’t get the timely hits in the tournament, it is hard to win.”

Steubenville did all of its scoring in one inning each of its last two tournament games coming into Friday, but this time the men left on base came back to haunt it. Big Red, which finishes at 18-7, left a total of eight men stranded.

That included leaving the bases loaded to end the sixth, after loading them up with one out. That instance, a few others where his club got men on with no one out, is what Heatherington pointed to after watching his team’s season end.

“We left too many guys on base,” he said. “We had a couple innings with guys on first and second and couldn’t score a run. We just didn’t get a timely hit when we needed to get another big inning. (Leaving the bases loaded in the sixth) was tough, but I think it was more important the times we came up empty with guys on first and second with no one out.”

One thing that he was proud of was his team battled all the way through, both the game and the season.

“That is the character of our kids,” he said. “We were never out of the game. We had some tough breaks go against us early in the game, but we battled back and still had a chance to tie it or get a lead. It just didn’t got our way (Friday), and that is the way it goes.

“It’s going to sting, but we’ll be all right. We’ll bounce back next year. Early in the year I think we had a little bit of trouble finding our identity, but as the year went on we found our identity and our character came out. The kids battled. We were always in the game, and that is important.”

On the flip side, after Big Red got out of four separate bases-loaded jams against John Glenn in Thursday’s semifinal, the Tigers (19-10) made sure to take advantage of their opportunities when they got them.

A Garret Gray RBI double opened the scoring in the first for Circleville. It then erupted for five in the top of the third.

Jon Burns started the onslaught with a sacrifice fly after the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs. Ethan Wolfe and Cory Cling hit back-to-back RBI singles before Garrett Kennedy plated two with a single to push the lead to 6-0.

“We got the big hits then we needed them,” Circleville coach Brian Bigam said. “We had the inning where we scored five, and we had some luck in it. I’m proud of the guys winning this game. Steubenville is a storied program that everyone knows of. I’m sure most people would have picked Steubenville to win. We gritted it out.”

It remained 6-0 until Big Red had its big inning in the bottom of the fourth, assisted by three Tiger errors in the frame. Jacob Bernard reached on an error to start. A double play gave Steubenville two outs, but the inning was far from over. Dom DeFrances walked. Biasi reached on an error on a play that would have ended the threat, allowing Bernard to cross. Gino Pierro reached on a third error, allowing DeFrances to cross. Alec Taylor then crushed the first pitch he saw off the right field wall for a three-run triple to make it a two-run game.

That was as close as it would get, however, as Circleville tacked on another three in the sixth and didn’t look back.

With the end of its season, so do the careers for Steubenville’s group of seniors.

“It’s tough to lose them,” Heatherington said. “Geno and Alec gave us four great years. Johhny (Agresta) gave us four great years. Ryan Neely and (Mason) Rubish gave us two great years. Jake Bernard came out this year and did a fantastic job. Antonio Fuscardo hung in there for four years, too. We’re proud of them.”