CARROLL — Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Wee Willie Keeler is credited with the saying, “hit ‘em where they ain’t.”

That’s exactly what the ninth-ranked Lisbon baseball team did Monday in a 5-0 victory over eighth-ranked Notre Dame in a Class 1A state quarterfinal game at Merchants Park.

Luke Czarnecki’s two-run triple to right that glanced off the glove of a diving Lucas Johnson gave the Lions a cushion.

And second baseman Alex Bock made a sensational stop on a ground ball by Maddox Diewold that seemed destined for center field and the start of a big inning for the Nikes.

Hunter Clark did the rest, silencing Notre Dame on just three hits to advance to the semifinals to face Kingsley-Pierson on Wednesday.

Notre Dame ends the season with a 26-7 record.

All the plays that had been going the Nikes’ way lately seemed to go the Lions’ way on Monday.

“I think that just happens from time to time,” said Notre Dame pitcher Hunter Shipley, the Nikes’ lone senior. “They had some timely hits. They hit the ball pretty hard. Pitching-wise for them, I thought Clark did a great job.”

“My parents and my coaches have always told me that you’ve got to be good and you’ve got to be lucky,” Notre Dame junior catcher Logan Brent said. “All postseason that’s been our story. We know we’re good. We were lucky those first few games. Lisbon was just that lucky team today.”

Notre Dame coach Chris Chiprez called it “one of those things.”

“They had the breaks. Things fell their way. That’s baseball for you,” Chiprez said.

Lisbon got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Cohen Kamaus led off the game with a double and later scored on a wild pitch.

Notre Dame threatened in the bottom of the inning.

Spencer Brent and Caden Schwenker singled with one out. Logan Brent then hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line. Landon Stolte snared the ball, stepped on the base for the second out and fired to first to complete the inning-ending double play.

“Our approach at the plate wasn’t the best. That’s on us as a team,” Logan Brent said. “We came out and played hard. I’m proud of every single one of our guys. There’s not much you can do in that situation.”

Notre Dame managed just one walk and struck out three times. The Nikes were aggressive early in the pitch count, but hit 10 fly outs and eight ground balls.

“I try to mix in my pitches as much as I can. You can’t start the next guy the same as the last guy. You have to keep them guessing,” Clark said. “I tried to paint the outside shin guards, low in the zone and get a lot of ground balls and popups.”

“Clark pitched a heck of a game,” Chiprez said. “He kept us off-balance all day. We didn’t have the best approaches at the plate. We let a lot of fastballs go right down the middle without swinging the bat. You can’t do that against a good team like that.”

The Lions made it a 4-0 game in the third. Stolte doubled and Clark drew a walk. Czarnecki then hit a fly ball down the right-field line that Johnson nearly caught.

Instead, the ball got into the corner and two runs scored. Czarnecki then scored on a passed ball.

“They had timely hits and put the bat on the ball,” Logan Brent said. “They just hit the ball where we weren’t, plain and simple. They got runners on and they were able to capitalize.”

Notre Dame looked set to dent the scoreboard in the fifth. Isaiah Crow singled to left and stole second. One out later, Diewold hit a sharp grounder that seemed destined to find the grass and plate a run. Instead, Bock made a sliding stop and threw out Diewold from his knees. Landry Haberichter then flew out to end the inning.

“That was probably the play of the game,” Chiprez said. “He went to his left, made a little sliding stop there.

“It was a bang-bang play. Give the kid credit. He made a great play.”

With everyone back but Shipley, Notre Dame hopes to build on this experience.

“We have a super strong junior class, just a class full of leaders, hard workers. We worked hard all year to get to this point. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll be back here next year,” Logan Brent said.

Shipley said the setback doesn’t take away from the season the Nikes had.

“We had a lot of close wins. A lot of fun wins. It’s something I will remember for the rest of my life,” Shipley said.

“It may not have ended the way we wanted it to end, but it’s a phenomenal season. I won’t be a part of it, but I know these guys will be back here next year and hopefully we can go a little farther.