STEWARTVILLE -- Al Dahlen wanted to give his team a boost, and he did it with one swing of the bat.

Dahlen hit a three-run home run that proved to be the game-winner, lifting the top-seeded Hayfield/ Austin Athletics into the Region 6C playoffs with a 5-3 victory over host Stewartville-Racine Thursday night.

"We just needed a spark," Dahlen said. "That was just awesome."

Dahlen's opposite-field blast over the fence in right came with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, not long after Stewartville-Racine's Scott Boettcher smoked a solo homer to give his Sharks a 3-1 lead.

Hayfield/Austin pitcher Chris Pack -- upset about the home plate umpire's admitted missed call the pitch before Boettcher's shot -- fired back at the Stewartville bats.

"I started throwing harder when I got mad," Pack said. "It took six innings, but I just got to the point where I said I'm just going to throw hard."

Pack had trouble getting his shoulder loose until he was forced into it, pumping up his fastball as the game wore on. He retired the Sharks in order to close out the ninth, getting a grounder back to the mound to end the game.

The victory was also Hayfield/Austin's first in four games against Stewartville-Racine this season.

Dahlen hoped his only hit of the game would be enough to atone for his fifth-inning error that allowed Stewartville to take a 2-1 lead. Boettcher added his home run in the top of the sixth, but the A's came back with a two-out rally.

Newfound favorite shortstop Nick Bowe started the spurt with a two-out single up the middle. S-R starter Todd Garnatz then walked Neil Noterman on four pitches, bringing the cleanup hitter Dahlen to the plate. After a seven-pitch battle, Dahlen got around late on a fastball and slapped it over the fence.

Hayfield/Austin would add an insurance run off reliever Brian English in the seventh on an RBI-single by Bowe. Bowe finished 3-for-3 with a walk and a hit by pitch, and made a highlight-reel play up the middle to prevent English from a leadoff single in the ninth.

"Bowe says to me, 'I've never been this pumped up for a baseball game in my life,'" said A's manager Joe Serratore. "He played a great game."

In his first game in the outfield, Mike Haugen made a pair of tough plays look relatively routine in right during the seventh inning.

The win prevented Hayfield/Austin from playing a must-win game Saturday morning in Stewartville. The third-seeded Rochester Blues blasted No. 4 seed Kasson from the Twin Rivers League White Division playoffs with a 10-0, eight-inning victory Thursday.

The No. 2 Sharks will host Rochester Saturday at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing with Hayfield/Austin into regions.

The top-seeded A's, now 19-17 overall, will host their first-round game next Friday night at 8 p.m. at Marcusen Park. Their opponent has not yet been determined in the six-team, double-elimination Region 6C bracket, from which the top two teams advance to the Class C state tournament in Northfield and Dundas.

Box Score:

ATHLETICS 5, SHARKS 3

Stewartville-RacineHayfield/Austin

abrhbiabrhbi

English lf5000Johnson cf4000

Prescott 2b5031Bowe ss3131

JBttchr 1b5010Noterman c4100

SBttchr ss2111Dahlen 3b4113

Jeznach rf4010Beck 1b3010

Mllnbch dh4010

Serratore 3b1000

Garnatz p0000Juncker lf4000

Beach 3b4000Tigner dh3020

Klstbkkn cf3110

Walerak pr0100

Hofer c3100

Wetzel dh0000

Nueman cr0000

Pack p0000

Haugen rf3010

Ciola 2b3100

Totals35382Totals32584

Stewartville001011000--382

Hayf/Austin00010310x--582

Team LOB--SR 9, H/A 13. HR--S.Boettcher, Dahlen. S--Haugen. SB--Prescott, Hofer, Nueman. CS--Prescott, Johnson.

IPHRERBBSO

Stewartville-Racine

Garnatz L5 2/354476

English2 1/331110

Hayfield/Austin

Pack W9832412

WP--Garnatz, Pack. PB--Hofer, Noterman. HBP--Bowe (by Garnatz), Beck (by Garnatz).