Ottawa senior Lucas Farabaugh had a rough first six innings in Tuesday’s Interstate 8 Conference series opener against rival La Salle-Peru.

But he came through when it mattered most.

Farabaugh’s two-out, run-scoring double to the wall in right field in the top of the eighth inning proved to be the deciding tally in the Pirates’ 3-2 victory over the Cavaliers at Huby Sarver Field inside the L-P Sports Complex.

“My first two at-bats today were not great,” said Farabaugh of his two strikeouts before being pinch hit for in the sixth and reentering as a runner after a single by Logan Olson. “There was little frustration in that (pinch hit) moment, but it also made sense. I didn’t have a confident first two at-bats and Logan hit the ball well on Saturday. Those are the moments you just have to cheer for your teammates and hope you get another chance. Fortunately, I did and was able to come through.”

Farabaugh’s two-bagger scored George Shumway, who had reached on a single to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rizon Contreras.

“No doubt I wanted to come through in that situation,” Farabaugh said. “I just wanted to make sure I kept my approach the same, and that’s look to hit the ball where it’s pitch. My second at-bat I wasn’t able to put the ball in play with runners in scoring position and that was from not sticking to my approach.”

Ottawa improved to 7-9-1 overall and 2-4 in I-8 play. L-P fell to 8-11 and 3-4.

“Lucas is one of our leaders,” Ottawa coach Levi Ericson said. “He’d even tell you he hasn’t had the type of season so far at the plate that he’d hope for, but he showed after the two strikeouts and being pinch hit for why he’s such a great leader for this team.

“He had the mentality of ‘I’m going to show you,’ and he did.”

Adam Swanson (win, 2⅔ IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K) retired the Cavs in order in the bottom of the eighth to close things out. Starter Jake Torres (4⅓ IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K) and Noah Marvin (1 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K) also saw time on the hill.

“Jake really pitched well in and around traffic on the bases, Noah just didn’t have his best stuff, and Adam came in and excelled in a role that he’s not used to,” Ericson said. “These games, they are always going to be hard fought and as we’ve seen in the past, no lead is ever really safe. It’s a rivalry and one that more times than not brings out the best of players on both sides.”

La Salle-Peru took a 1-0 lead in the second on a bases loaded walk by Jett Hill which scored Gavin Kallis who had started the inning with a base hit.

Swanson started the fourth with a double down the third base line and Shumway followed with a walk. Both came around to score on a pair of Cavalier throwing errors.

The hosts tied the game in the sixth as three straight walks were followed by a sacrifice fly by Grey Ernat.

Geno Argubright (3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) was tagged with the loss in relief of Hill (5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K).

L-P left seven runners in scoring position in the contest, including the bases loaded in both the second and seventh innings.

“I feel like our approach at the plate wasn’t as good as it needed to be early in the game,” L-P coach Matt Glupczynski said. “We had some pretty good opportunities in those first five innings and only came up with one run and left too many guys in scoring position.

“I think Jett and Geno both did an excellent job on the mound for us. We made a couple of plays in the field that hurt us a little, but both of those guys really pitched their butts off.

“We still have a chance to win this series. We just have to have a short memory, regroup, and be ready to go (Wednesday).”

The two sides rematch on Wednesday in Ottawa with the third game of the set returning to La Salle on Thursday.