The next time his spot came up in the batting order, the Trojans junior made sure to give his team the lead.

Walsh drilled a fastball over the center-field fence for a two-run home run and Southwestern put the game away from there en route to a 6-3 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 baseball win over Dunkirk at Packard Field.

“We’ve been waiting for that for a couple of games with Jameson,” Southwestern head coach Jared Brown said. “We saw that he was dialed in from the get-go. Obviously, it was really nice to have him hit that home run.”

The Marauders (2-2, 2-1) led 2-1 early, but the Trojans took control with a four-run bottom of the fifth inning. No. 9 hitter Walker Perry led off by reaching on an error and leadoff batter Lucas Gilbert walked to spell the end of the day for Dunkirk starter Zachary Zentz, who went four-plus innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while hitting a batter and striking out four.

Southwestern’s Judd Harris steals second base while Dunkirk second baseman Brady Corbett catches a late throw during Wednesday’s CCAA Division 1 game at Packard Field in Lakewood. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“I thought he did well. There were a couple of spots that he missed on 0-2 counts … but I thought his changeup worked effectively and in the third and fourth innings, his curveball was enough,” Dunkirk head coach Frank Jagoda said of Zentz. ” … He matched their guy toe to toe.”

A passed ball moved Southwestern’s runners up to second and third before Dustin Hendrix greeted Marauders reliever Greg Orcutt with an unconventional sacrifice fly down the right-field line that was actually caught by Dunkirk first baseman Anthony Cosme, but was deep enough to score Perry from third to tie the game.

“For Dustin, we have very high expectations,” Brown said. “It’s nothing new for us to see Dustin come through like that.”

Walsh then hammered a pitch over the fence to score himself and Gilbert, making it 4-2.

“I’ve been in that spot before. … This time, it gave us the lead against a good team,” Walsh said. “I saw the ball and gave it a ride. … As soon as I hit it, I knew it was over.”

Chase Kartesz then singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Judd Harris’ two-out single for a 5-2 lead.

“We got our pitches up and they started banging the ball around a little bit,” Jagoda said. “We had some errors and had one bad inning.”

The Trojans (2-1, 2-1) tacked on their sixth run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Perry walked with one out and went to second when Gilbert was hit by a pitch. Hendrix then singled to right field, but the runners only moved up one base because the Marauders’ Anthony Piede nearly made a diving catch on the play. Walsh then lofted a soft liner behind second base that was ruled an infield fly for the second out. Perry and Gilbert attempted to advance on the play with Perry scoring before Gilbert was tagged out at third for the final out of the inning.

“We kind of shook up the lineup a bit today compared to the last couple of games. Walker is a strong, solid hitter,” Brown said of Perry. “To have him in the bottom half of that lineup to roll it over back to our top three hitters is huge.”

Harris, the winning pitcher, threw shutout innings in the fifth and sixth, but ran into trouble in the top of the seventh. Dylan Bankoski walked to open the frame and Thomas Shaffer hit a one-out double to left field that put runners at second and third. Donny Jackson then walked to load the bases and spell the end of the day for Harris.

“We used him quite a bit last year in relief,” Brown said. “To have him come in and throw strikes is all I asked.”

Gilbert took over on the mound, which forced Walsh to take over behind the plate for Southwestern. Piede hit into an RBI fielder’s choice before Gilbert struck out the final batter, needing Walsh to throw down to first base to end the game after the pitch found the dirt.

“He throws hard,” Walsh said of Gilbert. ” … I had full faith in him to come in and close this game to get us a win.”

“We certainly had our opportunities, no question about it,” Jagoda said. ” … In the seventh inning, we put some guys on base and didn’t stop.”

Under their league’s new format, the same teams will play again tomorrow in Dunkirk. Hendrix will start on the mound for Southwestern.

“I’m not disappointed with the way that they did it this year,” Brown said. “I have three or four solid pitchers than can start. … I’m hoping to get four or five out of Dustin.”

NOTES: Paul Trippy hit an RBI double scoring Piede with Dunkirk’s first run and Jackson hit an RBI single scoring Bankoski with the Marauders’ second run. … Gilbert walked and scored Southwestern’s first run on a Hendrix RBI single. … Walsh struck out nine and walked four for the Trojans.