CRANBERRY TWP — Stopping Mars' five-year streak of Eagle County baseball championships isn't something Cranberry Township manager Bill Clinefelter believes his players spend too much time worrying about.

When Cranberry evened the best-of-five series with a 4-2 win Thursday night at North Boundary Park, Clinefelter was happy to continue the season.

For the second straight series, Cranberry erased a 2-0 deficit to force a winner-take-all Game 5.

Mars and Cranberry will settle the championship at 6 p.m. today at Marburger Field.

“I know how they are,” Clinefelter said about Mars' league-record of success. “We really don't think about it. Some of these guys here don't know this history and are like 'Hey, we're playing another team.'”

Cranberry right fielder Clayton Bouchard, who scored three times and had three hits, is playing in the league for the first time. Bouchard feels this series is similar to how Cranberry beat Mars II last week.

“We're here again. We're going to have fun tomorrow and see if we can win,” Bouchard said. “The next day, the same thing. That's how the team runs. I can't stress the word fun enough because that's what it is out here.”

Mars, which fell to 26-7-1, had a base runner reach in every inning and left 14 runners on base. Trailing 3-2 in the sixth inning, Mars loaded the bases with one out against Cranberry starter Alex Hajduk.

Hajduk wiggled out of the jam by forcing two fly outs.

“We hit the heck out of the ball and it went right at people,” Mars player/manager Brendan Malone said. “Hopefully, we find the holes tomorrow or we're going to be in bad shape. It was a disappointing loss.”

Hajduk, who is a 2014 Seneca Valley graduate and an incoming sophomore at Penn State Behrend, overcame control issues to earn the win. Hajduk issued six walks and hit two batters in seven innings of work.

“I was a little wild today in general,” said Hajduk, who was 3-0 with a 2.41 earned run average for the Lions as a freshman. “It was one of those off days with pitching. You won't have your stuff every day. I was elevating the ball, which allowed them to hit it around.”

Mars scored off Hajduk in the first inning when Brent McCormick hit into a fielder's choice that scored John Tavares.

Reed Tomlinson evened things up for Cranberry when his single off Mars starting pitcher GJ Senchak — who threw all seven innings and took the loss — scored Bouchard. Both teams also traded runs in the second.

Sam Sibeto Jr. put Mars up 2-1 when he hit into a fielder's choice and scored Senchak.

Bouchard used his wheels to tie the game after hitting a grounder to third base. McCormick's throw was fractions of a second behind Bouchard, which allowed Joel Shaffer to score.

“Once I got over the fact that my bat broke on me, I hustled down the line,” Bouchard said. “That's what I've been taught to do since I was little. I knew with how far back he was I had a chance.”

It was a rough day for McCormick, who misplayed a ball that Bouchard hit in the fourth. Bouchard scored the go-ahead run later in the inning on a single by Ben Murray.

McCormick was ejected in the fifth inning for cursing at the umpire following a called third strike.

Mars nearly tied the game in the sixth.

Tavares reached on a one-out fielder's choice. Malone singled and Dan Penberthy walked to load the bases.

Following a short meeting with his teammates, Hajduk got the two outs he needed.

That allowed Cranberry to force an unlikely Game 5 and put Mars' streak in jeopardy.

“With this team, we always make it fun,” Hajduk said. “There's always a will to win when we play this game. I had no doubt we'd come back and make it a battle and make it to Game 5.”

Mars was also forced to go the distance in last year's finals. They outlasted rival Mars II with a 7-3 win.

“We know what we have to do,” Malone said. “The problem is you have to wait until 6 o'clock tomorrow, it's going to be tough.”

Mars 110 000 0 — 2 6 1

Cranberry Twp 110 101 x — 4 10 2

W: Alex Hajduk 7IP (2K, 6BB). L: GJ Senchak 7IP (K, BB).

Mars: John Tavares 1B R, Brent McCormick RBI, GJ Senchak 1B R, Matt Johnston 1B, Sam Sibeto Jr. RBI, Brendan Malone 2-1B, Brandon Bergstrom 1B, Sam Siberto Sr. 1B.

Cranberry Township: Clayton Bouchard 3-1B R RBI, Tanner Masters 1B, Reed Tomlinson 2-1B RBI, Joel Shaffer 2-1B,Ben Murray 2-1B RBI.

Today: Cranberry Township vs. Mars, 6 p.m. Marburger Field