Steve Martin wasn’t feeling very well prior to Joliet Catholic‘s Class 3A JCA Regional semifinal against Streator on Wednesday.

In fact, he left some of his stomach contents in right field.

Despite that, Martin toughed it out and went 2 for 3 with two RBIs to help lead the Hilltoppers to a 7-2 win over the Bulldogs to advance to Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship game against the winner of Thursday’s game between Morris and Plano.

“I was pretty sick before the game,” Martin said. “But I feel better after getting a couple of hits today. It was good to come out and dominate in the postseason like we expected to.

“It was big for us to get [starting pitcher] Evan [Wills] the lead early. He’s been throwing really good for us. We just stayed with our game plan of putting the ball in play. We didn’t have a great start to the season, but we have rebounded well and we’re working well with what we’ve got. Our young guys aren’t young any more. They’ve had the full year to get experience and now they have played in the postseason so they are used to that, too.”

Streator (9-20) threatened in the top of the first. Maddan McCloskey led off the game with a single and, an out later, both Cole Winterrowd and Clay Christoff each reached on an error to load the bases. Wills, though, buckled down the struck out the next two hitters looking to escape the jam.

JCA (20-14) got Wills a run in the bottom of the first. Cody Busch led off with a single and stole second before Koen Lynes reached on an error to put runners on first and third. An out later, Derek Pomatto hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Busch.

Wills retired six of the next seven Streator hitters, three on strikeouts, before the Bulldogs broke through in the top of the fourth. With one out, Keegan Gassman singled and, an out later, a single by Isaac Melvin (2 for 3, double) moved Gaston to second. Cade Compton singled to center to score Gassman to tie the game at 1.

“We hung in there pretty good,” Streator coach Beau Albert said. “We had the bases loaded in the first inning, then tied it up in the fourth. Clay threw well, but we just couldn’t score enough today.”

JCA put the game away in the next two innings, scoring four in the fourth on RBI singles by Martin and AJ Perez and a two-run single by Josh Perez. Martin and AJ Perez each added an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth before Streator capped the scoring on an RBI groundout by Winterrowd in the top of the seventh.

“Getting that early run was huge,” Wills said. “It helped me settle down because I knew I had a run to work with. I wasn’t really nervous before the game, but I was kind of jumpy and excited. After the first inning, I was able to calm down and throw my fastball for strikes and get ahead in the count.

“I know I can just pump strikes and let the other team hit it because we have a really good defense and they are going to make plays behind me.”

JCA coach Jared Voss was happy with how his young team performed.

“It was a little bit of a slow start, but we got there,” Voss said. “For quite a few of our guys, it’s their first playoff experience, so it was good to get their feet wet with a win on our own field. The last few years we have had to travel all over, from Pontiac to Washington to Geneseo. It’s nice for the guys to play on their home field in front of their own fans.

“Steve Martin has been really steady for us all year long and has been a good leader for the younger guys to look up to.”