The Jesuit Tigers had been absent from the state championships the past three years.

They made up for lost time. Jesuit rolled in a 7-0 victory over Dunedin to advance to the Class 6A State Championship Game. The Tigers will face Archbishop McCarthy for the title Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and Spectrum Sports will carry the game LIVE.

The semis featured a pair of Bay Area teams that had to endure a three-and-a-half-hour weather delay.

Dunedin's defense caused some rumblings early on. Top of the second, Jesuit's Garrett Sheppard hit one-out grounder to left field as Alex Mocny was waived home, but tagged out, as Sheppard tried to make it to second, he was tagged out for the double play.

Both teams got hits early, but left runners stranded. That is, until top of the fifth, when Jesuit center fielder Joel Brewer scored the first run of the game with an RBI double to left field. McGuire Weaver followed that up with a deep shot to center field and Ray Sass couldn't get back in time to make the catch. That brought Brewer across the plate for a 2-0 Jesuit lead.

The Tigers Thomas Bencivenga drilled the first homer of the state baseball tournament in the seventh to cap off Jesuit's scoring.