Gavin Piekos’ peek and purposely silly smile into the dugout of his Prairie Ridge baseball teammates after he whistled a foul ball over Cary-Grove’s dugout achieved what he wanted: lots of laughs and energy.

“Sometimes in an at-bat I lose my personality and do a random thing,” said Piekos, the Wolves’ senior center field. “That’s how they get excited.”

Piekos did that once in a game earlier this season and homered. Thursday against Cary-Grove in the teams’ Class 3A regional semifinal in Cary, his attempt to energize his teammates ended not so well. He struck out after Maddon McKim had doubled leading off the bottom of the fourth.

In the sixth, however, Piekos found another way to raise the spirits of his teammates. His two-out, RBI single past shortstop Oskar Freund, whose diving attempt came up just short, broke a scoreless tie, and the Wolves held on for a 2-1 win.

The thriller was nothing like the teams’ two Fox Valley Conference games in early April, as Prairie Ridge won 3-0 and 16-0 in four innings. The sixth-seeded Wolves (23-8) were concerned only with winning, by any score, and advancing to Saturday’s 11 a.m. regional final against No. 3 Grayslake Central (26-8).

No. 12 C-G (12-22) advanced to the Class 3A state quarterfinals last year.

“I thought they would compete like they always do,” Wolves senior shortstop Gabe Winkelman said of the Trojans. “They’re a great group of competitors. They always have been. I thought it would be a great game, like it was today, 2-1, close. We were both grinding it out.”

Winkelman followed Piekos’ tie-breaking hit by almost homering to left field. He settled for an RBI double, and Prairie Ridge needed the insurance run. C-G scored a run off Owen Satterlee, who relieved starter Colt Zaleski, in the top of the seventh but stranded the tying run on second when Freund hit a sharp grounder to Winkelman, who ranged to his left and threw to first for the final out.

“That’s the guy I would hand pick to [be up in that situation],” C-G coach Kyle Williams said of Freund, the only returning starter off last season’s state squad. “That’s baseball. They don’t all get through. That’s how it goes.”

Canyon McKinney’s sacrifice fly to center off Satterlee scored the Trojans’ only run off Prairie Ridge pitching in 18 innings this season.

“I think our overall preparation for this game was astounding, and the camaraderie and the chemistry that we have as a team is second to none,” said McKinney, who went 2 for 3. “I know the record that we had this year wasn’t great, but the bond that we had was amazing.”

C-G touched Zaleski for eight hits in six innings, but the senior righty made big pitches when needed. Winkelman triggered double plays in the fifth and sixth innings, and the Wolves played errorless ball.

“I think what gets lost in a lot of this is our first baseman [Jack Hermann],” Wolves coach Austin Padjen said. “He’s done a phenomenal job on the back end too, and our shortstop [Winkleman], that’s been our leader the whole year. I’ve been very blessed to have kids who can play high-level defense.”

Zaleski struck out three in his six scoreless innings (89 pitches).

“I have a lot of confidence in Colt,” Piekos said. “The whole year, no matter what, he’s always been able to prove who he is as a person and what he can do on the mound. He’s the most mentally tough person on this team.”

“He was phenomenal,” Winkelman said of his starting pitcher. “All year, he’s been like that. He just gets it done for us on the mound, and we love that out of him.”

C-G starter Dylan Dumele was equally tough, pitching all six innings. The lefty allowed only five hits, including McKim’s booming double leading off the Wolves fourth. Dumele retired the next three batters.

“He’s so talented and competitive, and he rises to the occasion,” Williams said of his pitcher. “We had a lot of trust in him.”

Padjen has coached Dumele in the summer, so he wasn’t surprised by the veteran’s performance.

“He’s just a bulldog,” Padjen said. “He competes. He’s got a three-pitch mix, and he’s just tough.”

No. 9 hitter Cameron Davis led off the Prairie Ridge sixth with a single and was on third base when Piekos came up with two out and the score still 0-0.

“I knew it possibly could be my last high school at-bat, so I wanted to leave it all out there and do whatever I could to help my team,” Piekos said after finishing 2 for 3. “My second at-bat, I put a lot of pressure on myself with Maddon hitting a leadoff double, and I got down on myself [after striking out]. My third at-bat I was able to just take a deep breath, take the pressure off myself and allow my game to play.”

Mason Klimek (walk) and Ryan Koltz (single) reached off Satterlee – who struck out 14 Trojans in the teams’ first meeting – to start the C-G seventh. But Satterlee retired the next three hitters to save it for Zaleski.

“I think [last year’s postseason run] was roaming around in the back of everybody’s minds,” McKinney said. “But when we were speaking about the playoffs it was always about focusing on this game and what can we do and control.”