Baseball coaches love crooked numbers.

When they look up at the scoreboard and they see those big innings they know it was probably a good day.

Now, a crooked number – like 14 – advancing in bracket play is even sweeter, especially when that big old number advances all the way to the state championship game.

Flagstaff, the 14th seed, beat defending state champion Saguaro 6-3 for the second time in eight days to advance to the 4A state championship game Wednesday at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

The difference was a crooked number - 3 - in the fifth inning as the Bears took advantage of uncharacteristic defensive play by No. 10 Saguaro to break the 3-all tie at Tempe Diablo.

“This team has overcome a lot,” Flagstaff coach Kenny Macias said. “We came in as a 14 seed and you kind of get discounted, but this team really came together. Playing baseball in northern Arizona isn’t easy with the weather, having to play inside and all the travel, but these boys don’t care.

“They wanted this for each other. We talked about it being our year. We made the final four last year, so why not us.”

Flagstaff, which dedicated the season to assistant coach Ed Vessely’s wife, Susan, after she died in February, beat Saguaro for the second time eight days in the playoffs, a year after the Sabercats (18-13-1) beat Flagstaff twice in the postseason.

Maybe, just maybe, Flagstaff (23-9) will have a similar fate. It’s the program’s first appearance in the state championship game.

“It will always be in my heart,” said junior shortstop Will Carpenter, who went 2 for 3. “It will be our program’s first ever state championship game. I will be able to tell my kids about it, and (the team) will always have that memory together.”

The decisive fourth was started by the defensive miscues by Saguaro.

The sixth and seventh hitters, Payne Lowry and Connor Iniguez, opened the inning with a ground ball toward second base that was misplayed and then a fly ball to left field that was dropped, respectively.

After an Aeneyas Clerry sac bunt and a strikeout, it looked like Kason Williams (1-2) would get out of the inning after inducing a grounder by Christian Welker to first base, but it was misplayed, allowing two runs to score.

“We know in a championship type setting you have to be at your best, especially defensively,” Saguaro coach Joe Muecke said. "We talked about it from Day 1: We want the pitchers to challenge the hitters and the let defense do the work. This was humbling game.

“You have to play your best game this time of year and unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

The big hit in the inning was by Carpenter, a left-hander, as he ripped a triple to right-center and a 6-3 lead.

“With the outfield being so big you just want to find a gap and run hard,” he said. “I got a good pitch to hit, turned on it and scored a run. Adding a run there was important to give us a little more room.”

It was all Iniguez, a senior right-hander, needed to throw a complete game. He didn’t allow a run after the third inning and only two earned on eight hits, a strikeout and no walks overall to improve to 7-3.

“It allowed me to open up the strike zone and attack it more,” said Iniguez, who lost a 1-0 game to Saguaro on March 4. “When you are pitching with a lead late in the game, you can go after (the hitters) more and let them put it in play.”

For a team to break through a barrier there must be something that comes up to push it to that next step.

It might be the dedication to Susan, team comradery, or a player coming out of nowhere to make an impact.

In this case, it was a combination of those factors. 

Clerry, a sophomore left fielder, not only executed his first sacrifice bunt of the year to start the rally, but he made two sliding catches in the expansive major league-sized outfield, including one in the seventh inning to make sure the Sabercats didn’t get a spark.

“I just knew I had to make plays for my pitcher and my team,” he said. “I had to make those catches. I just went after it like our season depended on it.”