Ford head baseball coach Dan Tallant had zero doubts in his starting pitcher, Matt Dickinson, going into Friday’s pre-district game against Troy Athens.

“Matt Dickinson is a gamer, man,” Tallant said. “He wants the ball in these kinds of moments. … He works so hard, and when you’ve got a guy that instead of getting nervous or worried about all that could go wrong in that moment, he instead thrives on that kind of stuff. These kinds of moments bring the best out of him.”

His faith was rewarded — the senior allowed just a single run on three hits, two walks and nine strikeouts, throwing a complete game as the Falcons charged to a 6-1 victory, advancing to next week’s district semifinals.

But there were some nerves involved.

“Coming into this game, I was very, very nervous,” Dickinson said. “They told me to just keep doing what I’ve been doing, and good things will happen.”

And happen they did. Athens didn’t send more than three men to the plate in a single inning until the top of the seventh, when two singles and a walk got the Red Hawks their only run. Ford had a relief pitcher warming up as Dickinson threw in the seventh, but Tallant allowed his ace to finish out the game.

“I don’t think there was really any doubt in our mind, just with where his pitch count was at,” Tallant said. “With how much of a competitor he is, I’m not sure he’d have even let us take him out of the game at that point.”

Though Ford scored just one run through four innings, they finally got to Athens starter Parker Ciurla — Dylan Isrow and Eli Miller doubled, Dom Cavacini reached on an error, Dickinson and Jack Nilson singled, Matthew Shakotko hit a sacrifice fly and Kyle Moore was hit by a pitch in what ended up being a four-run inning. They scored again in the sixth with an RBI double from Matt Dickinson.

“Good battle,” said Athens head coach Mike Morris. “Even, you look at that last inning there, and that’s the kind of heart that all the guys leave. We’ve got five seniors who worked their butts off. They weren’t going to go down easy. I feel bad for the seniors who have to go out like that. It was a good game. That’s a great team over there.”

The Red Hawks’ season ends with a 25-7 record; though there is reason for some happiness. Tallant and his assistant coach, Eric Penz, played for Morris and Athens in high school and eventually coached their freshman and junior varsity programs before ending up at Ford. Tallant joked that it was “almost meant to be” with the two teams being drawn to play each other in the pre-district game.

“A little Athens family reunion,” Morris said. “I’m very happy for those guys (Tallant and Penz) after the game’s over. Obviously I want to kick their butts during the game. But they’re great guys that were there one of my first years coaching.

“We won a district, regional and league title together when they played for me and they both coached for me as well. I’m feeling old now seeing those guys going. But I’m happy for them.”

Ford earned the right to advance to the district semifinals round, which they will host on Saturday, June 1. They’ll battle fellow MAC program Sterling Heights (1-16) with Stevenson vs. Utica meeting up on the other side. The winners of those games will play that afternoon for the district championship.

“(I’m) looking forward to that district championship,” Dickinson said. “It’s something we’ve been trying to get for the past two years. So I think this year, we’ll be a contender for it.”