Photo by Samantha Davis. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Chase Christianson and head coach Danny Moffitt smile with one another after Christianson hit a triple in the second inning in the Section 3A quarterfinals against Dawson-Boyd Thursday night at Yankee Field in Milroy.

MILROY — Hits came early and often as the No. 3 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton baseball team cruised past top-seeded Dawson-Boyd for a 9-2 upset in the Section 3A quarterfinals Wednesday night at Yankee Field in Milroy. The win advances the Knights to the semifinals, while the Blackjacks move to the elimination bracket.

“This was crucial. Last year, this is where we met [Dawson-Boyd] at the same time, and they got us [5-3],” RTR head coach Daniel Moffitt said. “I was glad we got past a good team like Dawson-Boyd.”

To snap Dawson-Boyd’s 15-game winning streak, RTR got right to action with contagious offense with a run in each the first and second inning before embarking on a four-run third inning and another three in the fifth.

Dawson-Boyd scored its two runs with one each in the fifth and sixth.

The Knights tallied 12 hits and one error to the Blackjacks’ seven hits and three errors.

Chase Christianson and Sean Griesse both hit a triple in the second innings, while Brayden Chandler, Eli Determan and Tyler Wichmann all had doubles.

“The bats woke up at the right time,” Moffitt said. “We were struggling a couple games before this, and we just saw the ball well today.”

Chandler and Drew Chandler shared a team-high two RBIs.

For the Blackjacks, Tygan Long led offensively going 3 for 3 at the plate, while Nate Hansen followed with two hits.

Promptly scoring a run in the top of the first inning, a Drew line drive to short right center field sent Wichmann home, who first hit a double fly ball to deep center field that landed just before the fence on the edge of a home run.

Dawson-Boyd had a strong defensive first out of the game, with Beau Johnson in center field throwing Wichmann’s hit down the catcher Grayson Olson for a tag-out at the plate of Isaac Janish attempting to take home.

Janish was courtesy running for Chandler, who hit a single line drive to left field.

Christianson and Griesse hit their back-to-back triples in the second inning, out to left and right field respectively. Griesse’s hit scored Christianson for a 2-0 RTR lead.

“That was big,” Moffitt said. “They got the momentum going again as well.”

In their third inning rally for four runs to build a 6-0 edge, Griesse, Determan, Drew and Garrett Elton accounted for the runs off four hits. Determan stole home off a wild pitch, and Elton was courtesy running for catcher Seth Cowell.

“It [our hitting] was good, and it helped us a lot,” Wichmann said. “Like coach said, we hit very well today and it felt good. That’s what we need to keep going on Saturday.”

The Blackjacks put an end to the inning with a double play, tagging out a runner attempting to steal home off a wild pitch and a pickoff at second.

Dawson-Boyd made the pitching change to Hansen with no outs after the Knights scored the first three runs of the inning.

After a scoreless fourth inning, RTR’s three runs in the top of the fifth put the dagger on Dawson-Boyd for a 9-0 lead.

Elton scored, again courtesy running for Cowell, off a Gabriel Elton single RBI.

A Chandler two-run RBI double fly ball out to deep center field allowed both Griesse and Christianson to score, who initially got on base with a hit and hit-by-pitch.

Dawson-Boyd’s first run in the bottom of the fifth inning came from Kameron Sather stealing home off a wild pitch, first getting on base with a hard triple line drive to center field.

RTR’s Cowell also successfully threw a tag-out to third base in the inning off a Blackjacks’ steal attempt.

Dawson-Boyd’s final run in the bottom of the sixth came from Johnson from third base off a Sather infield single.

With RTR three outs away from defeating the top-seed and Dawson-Boyd looking for a rally in the bottom of the seventh at bat, the Knights ended the game in strong fashion with a double play off an outfield pop fly catch and pickoff at second.

“We have a lot of seniors on this team that do a lot of work for us,” Wichmann said. “All of them, they help us keep the positivity going.”

With a full count and two outs, Gavin Schreurs threw a final strike to send RTR to the semifinals.

For RTR, Chandler pitched the first five innings and finished with four strikeouts and four walks while allowing four hits and two earned runs.

“Brayden, he showed up,” Moffitt said. “When we faced them [Dawson-Boyd] in the regular season, Brayden threw against them as well and he did very well against them, so I thought let’s go again with Brayden.”

Schreurs went to the mound the final two innings, and finished with one strikeout and three hits.

Long threw the opening two innings for Dawson-Boyd, finishing with a trio of strikeouts with eight hits and four earned runs.

Hansen pitched a majority of the game with four innings, and threw for three strikeouts and two walks with three hits and two earned runs.

DB last year earned first seed and became section runners-up. Fell to No. 2 LQPV in the championship 3-1 game 1 and 7-2 game 2

RTR last year was eliminated with a subsection semifinal loss to A/E 7-1 then in the elimination bracket semifinals 4-2 to A/E

Dawson-Boyd (16-3) will next face No. 4 Minneota in the elimination bracket quarterfinals today at 7 p.m. at Irish Yard in Milroy.

RTR (16-6), now one win away from reaching the section championship game, will take on No. 3 Yellow Medicine East in Saturday’s semifinals at 12 p.m. again at Yankee Field in Milroy.

“This [win] feels pretty great,” Wichmann said. “We’ve been down a couple times, but if we keep rolling, we got a good chance of going to state.”

The Sting upset top-seeded Murray County Central 7-5 Wednesday evening in the quarterfinals.

“Those guys [YME], they looked good. I got to watch the MCC game, and MCC is a tough team to beat,” Moffitt said. “Those guys should be rolling high confidently, and we’re going to have to be very competitive and not make any mistakes.”