Joining him for the bottom-of-the-seventh-inning conference were his infielders and his catcher, but from a distance it appeared that Benjamin was doing all the talking.

That seemed only fitting, because, to that point, his right arm had figuratively drawn plenty of attention. All told, Benjamin tossed a seven-hitter, struck out 11 and walked two to lead the second-seeded Eagles to a 1-0 victory over No. 1 Maple Grove.

The win advances Ellicottville (13-6) into Tuesday’s sub-regional against the Section V champion at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hamburg High School.

It’s been a long time in coming for Eagles head coach Chris Mendell.

P-J photo by Scott Kindberg The Ellicottville baseball team poses for a photograph after defeating Maple Grove in Saturday’s Section VI Class D championship game at Veterans Memorial Park in Salamanca.

“We haven’t won a sectional championship, I think, since 2002,” he said. “This group has been resilient, they’ve worked hard all year, they’ve put the extra time in and they deserve it. It’s good to see that hard work pays off.”

The only run came in the third inning, courtesy of AJ Myers’ single that plated Dom Tirado, but there were plenty of chances to score by both teams.

For the Red Dragons (10-8), they had the bases loaded in the first inning with no outs, but couldn’t push across a run; they had a runner tagged out at the plate in the third; and they grounded into a double play on a bang-bang call at first with the bases loaded in the fifth.

Maple Grove head coach Pete Pannes, who thought the runner beat the throw, described the outcome as a “tough loss.”

“What are you going to do? That’s baseball,” he said. “We had multiple opportunities, but we didn’t have good at-bats with guys on base.”

Mendell could relate as Ellicottville also had a runner thrown out at the plate in the first inning and lined into a twin-killing with runners at second and third in the final frame.

Losing pitcher Gavin Darr matched Benjamin pitch for pitch, scattering eight hits and striking out four. He didn’t issue a walk and he hit one batter.

“Darr was great,” Pannes said. “He’s such a good kid.”

Mendell feels the same way about Benjamin, who struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh, walked the third and then struck out the last one. Upon doing so, he tossed his glove high into the air in celebration.

“Rylan’s been a bulldog,” Mendell said. “He’s been our ace all year. He’s commanded the ball. I knew he’d come out and perform, and he certainly did that today. … He’s probably the biggest voice on our team and, obviously, his game proves it.”

NOTES: Cameron Mendell (double) had two hits to lead Ellicottville’s offense, while Darr, Kyle Yohe and Liam Price collected two hits apiece for the Red Dragons. “We can hit,” Pannes said. “We just didn’t get lucky today.”