When all else failed, timely hitting came to the rescue of the Mariner Tritons Tuesday night in the Region 3-4A quarterfinals against Palmetto Ridge.

The visiting Bears grabbed leads of 1-0 and 4-3 before the Tritons broke it open in the fifth inning en route to an 11-7 victory.

“It’s nice to play poorly and still win,” said Tritons coach Steve Larsen. “Our pitching was hot sharp and out fielding was less than adequate. Fortunately, timely hitting can win some ball games and that’s what happened tonight.”

The win sends the Tritons (25-4) into the regional semifinal round Friday night when they host the Barron Collier Cougars, who disposed of Cypress Lake 9-6 in another quarterfinal matchup.

The Tritons overcame that 1-0 deficit with a three-run rally in the first inning. Walter Cleary (2-for-4) started it with a double to right-center. Daniel Alimonti drew a walk in front of cleanup hitter Alex Santana, who lined a timely RBI single to right to tie the game.

With two out and runners on second and third, Dan Cohill drove in two runs with a single to center to put the Tritons in front 3-1.

That lead only lasted until the third when the Bears pushed across three runs, only one earned, with one out to regain the lead against Mariner starting pitcher Jason Carmichael. The last two runs in the rally scored in a Tritons’ fielding error.

The Tritons manufactured the tying run in the fourth after Martin Evans singled to lead off the inning. Evans stole second and was sacrificed to third by Taylor Walker. Evans scored the tying run when Luiggy Marte’s ground ball to third resulted in an error.

“It helps to have runners on base,” said Larsen. “It makes the pitcher uncomfortable and makes the infielders play at double-play depth, making timely hits the key.”

That was the successful strategy in the Tritons’ six-run fifth-inning eruption. They plated five earned runs on six base hits and one Bears error.

Alimonti’s ringing double down the left field led off the barrage. Alex Santana (2-for-3) singled past the shortstop, who then committed an error to put the runners on second and third. A timely single to right by Carmichael plated both runners.

After Cohill walked, Carmichael was picked off second base for the first out. Evans singled and Walker drew a walk to load the bases. Marte cleared the bases with a line-shot double down the left-field line to give the Tritons a seemingly comfortable five-run bulge. Marte wound up scoring on Audry Santana’s double down the left-field line.

Cleary, pitching the fifth and sixth innings in relief of Carmichael, was the beneficiary of the rally to earn the win. Cleary, though, did give up two runs in the sixth as the Bears closed the gap to 10-6.

The Tritons got the run back in the sixth when Alex Santana scored the 11th run of the night with two out as Evans (2-for-4) reached first on a throwing error that should have been the third out.

The Bears added a run with two out in the seventh against Mariner’s Stanley Padfield.

Palmetto Ridge103 002 1 – 7 8 5

Mariner300 161 x – 11 11 4

W – Walter Cleary. L – Pedro Carillo.

2B – Ulysses Rodriguez (PR), Audry Santana (M), Walter Cleary (M), Daniel Alimonti (M), Luiggy Marte (M).