Pat Krause/Daily Globe (Ironwood) Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Carter Crouch delivers a pitch during Tuesday’s MHSAA Division 4 District 97 opener at Lorenson Field in Ironwood.

IRONWOOD — It took 10 innings of hard-fought baseball, but Ironwood advanced to the semifinals of the MHSAA Division 4 District 97 baseball tournament with a 4-3 victory over Lake Linden-Hubbell on Tuesday afternoon.

The win did not come easy.

With the game tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Ironwood’s Ethan Roehm walked and then Parker Wilson drew an intentional walk. Austin Trier loaded up the bases with another base-on-balls and then John Joki’s walk plated Roehm with the winning run.

“It was a strange game, a weird game without a lot of hits,” Ironwood manager Erik Ellerson said. “We both had a devastating inning with running and fielding errors and passed balls and we need to clean that up. But we consistently fought out there today and it paid off for us in the end. I have confidence in the kids. It’s amazing how far we’ve come since the start of the season.”

Lake Linden manager Andy Crouch said the game was “a good battle” and that a lot of their miscues could be chalked up to inexperience.

“We’re very young with only one senior,” Crouch said. “The experience our kids have gained from this year has been great. And the kids played hard today. We had guys on base all day, but we couldn’t get them in. Both teams starting pitchers pitched a heck of a game. Hats off to Ironwood–they made the plays when they had to. Good luck to Ironwood (in the tournament).”

Wilson was Ironwood’s starting pitcher and Carter Crouch took the mound for the Lakes and both were sharp early on. Wilson threw 4 1/3 innings of shut out ball giving up four hits and striking six with one walk. He threw 72 pitches and Ellerson took him out of the game with a 1-0 lead so he could pitch again on Friday.

“Parker’s command was great today,” Ellerson said. “He had his fastball working in the first inning and then he got his curve ball going in the second inning. Then he never looked back.”

Lefty Ethan Roehm came into the game with two outs in the fifth inning and a runner on first base. He walked Alex Mackey. Lake Linden’s Marcus Sutherlund hit a ball that looked like it might drop in, but

but Red Devil center fielder Gavin Delich made a long run and his catch ended the threat.

Ironwood had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Drew Dabb hit a ball that dropped in for a single. Roehm reached on an error by the second baseman and then Wilson hit a fly ball that popped out of the left fielder’s glove. Dabb scored on the error.

In the sixth inning, Lake Linden’s Caleb Gregoire, Brandon Lavigne and Jesse Hill were safe on errors and they all came around to score as the Lakes went up 3-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, Dabb reached on an error and pitcher Carter Crouch was taken out of the game. He had pitched very well going 5 1/3 innings and gave up two unearned runs on two hits and fanned six Ironwood batters.

Kellen Klien relieved Crouch and walked Roehm putting two Red Devils on base. The power-hitting Wilson roped a line drive double to the base of the fence in left field. The blast knocked in both Dabb and Roehm and Ironwood had tied the game at 3-3 before winning it in the 10th.

“Parker’s got a good swing and a lot of power,” Ellerson said.

Roehm threw 105 pitches in relief and went 5 2/3 innings giving up two unearned runs on three hits while striking out four batters. He was the winning pitcher

“Ethan pitched very well today and his command was very good,” Ellerson said. “He also had a spectacular pickoff play at first base that really helped us.”

Roehm was also helped out by his defense that made a great double play in the eighth inning. Lake Linden had runners on second and third with one out when Carter Crouch hit a hard ground ball to Shawn Korpela at third base. He deftly fielded it and fired to first base for the first out. Lake Linden’s Cole Gregoire had broke for home and but a perfect throw to Dabb at home plate nailed the runner.

“I had to send him,” Crouch said. “It took two great throws to get him out.”

Cole Gregoire led Lake Linden’s hitting attack going 3-5, while Wilson was Ironwood’s top hitter going 2-4 with two RBI’s.

Ironwood has a 10-8 record overall.

The Red Devils will take on Jeffers at Lorenson Field on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and the Red Devils are hoping to advance to the tournament finals which will be played on the same day and field at 4:30. Gogebic meets L’Anse in the other semifinal at 11 a.m. in Ironwood.