La Salle-Peru had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, causing Sycamore to pull in its infield in hopes of preventing a run.

But Ceyton Urbanski came up and delivered.

Urbanski hit a hard ground ball just past Sycamore second baseman Caleb Tindall that allowed Adan Pantoja to race home with the winning run, giving the Cavaliers a 5-4 walk-off victory Thursday to avoid an Interstate 8 Conference sweep.

“Coming in down 2-0 in the series and losing both games pretty close, then walking it off felt pretty good,” Pantoja said.

After the Spartans scored four runs to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning, Pantoja drew a walk to start L-P’s winning rally.

John Sowers moved Pantoja over with a sacrifice bunt before Jett Hill and Grey Ernat each drew walks to load the bases, setting up Urbanski’s winning single.

“We battled, and I’m proud of them for that,” L-P coach Matt Glupczynski said. “We’ve talked since the beginning of the year about battling for 21 outs, and they showed that today.”

Neither team could get anything going for most of the game.

The Cavaliers had only one hit through five innings, while Sycamore had six hits through six innings, stranding two runners in scoring position and one thrown out at the plate.

L-P turned to small ball to spark its offense in the sixth.

Pantoja ripped a single into left field to start the inning.

“I was just thinking middle or the other way,” Pantoja said. “I got a little bit on top of it and just roped it down.”

Sowers laid down a bunt and reached for an infield single, and Hill also put down a bunt single to load the bases.

Grey Ernat, who had L-P’s only hit through five innings, delivered an RBI single to left field. After an out, Braylin Bond hit a ground ball single through the left side to drive in Sowers, and Gavin Kallis ripped a two-run single to left-center field.

“When I ripped the single, then we had the bunts, and they were safe off those, I think that really pushed the rest of our team to start hitting the ball well,” Pantoja said.

L-P relief pitcher Geno Argubright struck out the first batter of the seventh inning before Sawyer Valdez was hit by a pitch, and Alex Van Mastrigt and Tindall hit back-to-back singles to load the bases.

Argubright struck out another batter to put the Cavs within an out of the victory, but Chace Kuhns hit a two-run double to right-center, and Jackson MacDonald followed with a two-run single to right-center.

Argubright ended the inning with a groundout.

“I’m definitely happy with the way our team responded,” Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh said. “We responded exactly like you should. It wasn’t a bunch of walks or a bunch of errors. It was just a bunch of singles toward the middle of the field. That’s how you win on days like this when conditions are tough with the wind blowing straight in. It’s a shame we waited until the seventh inning to start doing that.”

Tyler Spelich started on the mound for L-P and got a no-decision. He pitched 4⅔ scoreless innings, giving up four hits with one strikeout and no walks.

Argubright earned the win in relief for L-P (8-10, 3-3 I-8). He allowed four runs on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks in 2⅓.

“Tyler Spelich did an outstanding job for us. He’s done it two conference games in a row. I’m proud of him,” Glupczynski said. “We’ve had great pitching the entire series. We’ve had close games (6-4 and 4-2 losses in the first two games and we just couldn’t get the big hit. Today we got the big hit.”

Valdez got a no-decision for Sycamore (7-7, 5-1). He gave up four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 5⅓ innings, while Devin Carson took the loss as he allowed one run on two hits with a strikeout and three walks in an inning.

“You don’t have to do a lot well [on a day like today],” Cavanaugh said. “You just have to not walk people. That was the biggest thing [Valdez] did. He was at 52 pitches through five innings. But then they had a single to start the sixth, and there were two bunts we didn’t field. If you play defense, you’re going to be in a game like this. If you don’t play defense, you’re not going to be.”