BIRMINGHAM >> In sports, the playoffs are often viewed as the most important time of year, and two teams that epitomize that notion did battle on the diamond on Wednesday afternoon.

Birmingham Groves, fresh off of a district championship victory over Royal Oak, hosted Detroit U-D Jesuit in a D1 regional semifinal, and the Cubs used a thrilling offensive performance to cruise to a 17-2 win.

“Number one, I told these guys to go out there and have fun,” said U-D Jesuit head coach Gary Magallanes. “You have to play baseball while having fun. If you aren’t, there is so much pressure on you as a player. So we came out with joy and enjoyed the game.”

The Cubs’ season record to 11-24 with the win, and while their roster is stocked with talent, it was also a season full of losses and lessons learned. So when they fell behind 2-0 right away against Groves, they were not fazed.

“The way this season has gone, we have always been one thing short,” Magallanes said. “It could’ve been we were short one fielded ball, or we were short one hit in a ton of our losses. In our league, the Catholic League, it is extremely difficult to win. We learned that every day has to be a battle, we have to keep fighting and putting pressure on the next guy. We had to learn how to scrap for everything we got this year, and it really is just hats off to our guys. They really brought it today.”

That Groves’ lead was brought to life with a two-run home run by Dayton commit Sebastian Shorter, who led the way with a pair of hits. Josh Gibson, Xan Scheinfield and Benji Cook each had base knocks as well in the loss.

Shorter is just a junior and will return for a Falcons team that gained great playoff experience this year, but Wednesday’s loss marked the end of the road for the senior class that secured district hardware last Saturday.

“At the end of the season you always reflect back on the guys that are leaving,” said Groves head coach Shawn Morrison. “We have a good amount that are moving on this year, and every one of them put a lot of hard work and sweat into this. We are going to miss their leadership.”

Morrison continued his praise for his group, saying that there was a time during this season that getting to this game didn’t seem like it was the cards.

“I think we really battled through a ton of adversity this year, we had a lot of ups and downs. The last week of the season we really found it. In our sixth or seventh game of the week we played an 18-inning game, and I think that really helped us. Before that week, we really could feel things falling apart, but we peaked at the right time and built momentum heading into the playoffs.”

The Falcons used a six-game win streak the week before the playoffs to get their vibes back where they belong before losing that 18-inning war to Walled Lake Central, Morrison’s alma mater. They carried that momentum into a combined 16-2 differential in districts with wins over Warren Mott and Royal Oak.

This day, however, belonged to the Cubs.

Sean McNally and Tommy O’Shea delivered big blows with home runs, while the Cubs also added three doubles and seven singles. Lefty ace Bobby Crane went the full four innings for U-D Jesuit to continue his stellar season.

“What can you say about that kid? He’s a four-year guy, he’s off to Michigan State to pitch next year and he is just our leader. Whether he is pitching or in the field he is the guy that we all look to,” said Magallanes of Crane.

The Cubs move onto Saturday’s regional final where they will meet Grosse Pointe South at Brownstown Woodhaven.

As for Groves, the work to get back to this point will start as soon as the dust settles from this year.

“We will have to rebuild our team,” Morrison said. “We pride ourselves on development and we are going to have to work with the guys coming back to try and get back to this point.”