The No. 6 De La Salle Pilots were disappointed on Thursday.

After battling through the grueling life of a Catholic League Central team, they earned the No. 1 seed in the league tournament — which comes with a bye to the semifinals — but lost, 1-0, before they ever had a chance to play for the title.

“We were upset. I was disappointed,” said DLS head coach Dan Cimini. “We had a great season in the Catholic League. I think we would have really competed hard in that championship game.”

But the beauty — or, at times, cruelty — of baseball is that you seldom have to wait long to wash the slate clean.

And with a chance to cleanse the disappointment of days past, the Pilots did just that, beating Warren Woods Tower, 10-0, in five innings on Friday, advancing their season to next Friday’s district semifinals and ending Tower’s.

“I was happy the way they came out today and swung it,” Cimini said. “We got back on track. So I’m not worried about our team.

“We’re a good baseball team, and if we play great in all three aspects, we’re going to be fine.”

Had DLS won on Thursday, they’d have turned around and played again immediately against Brother Rice with Dylan Luepke on the mound. But because they didn’t, Luepke was saved for Friday — something of a silver lining.

He didn’t waste the opportunity in a big moment. Coming off a disappointing loss with their season on the line, the junior fired five innings of one-hit ball, walking three batters and striking out 13.

The trust Cimini and his teammates have in him doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Coach Cimini knew what he was getting out of me,” Luepke said. “So I felt like this was a great opportunity to do that. I mean, just try to lead the team to greater things and go far in the playoffs.

“That’s a big part of, like, our identity right now. I mean, he (Cimini) preaches at every practice. He believes in us. I mean, that belief in me — I’d run through a wall for coach.”

Zack Wagner and Vito Zito each had two hits, with Zito’s solo home run in the fourth inning putting the Pilots in run rule territory, up 10-0. Both players also had two RBIs.

Nine different Pilots knocked hits, with three doubles and four stolen bases. They committed no errors in the field behind Luepke.

All of that brings together belief that, despite their CHSL disappointment, there’s a state title run yet to be made.

And if anybody knows what a state championship team looks like, it’s Cimini, a six-time state winner, most recently in 2024 with Northville.

It begs the question — for somebody who has seen so many state title-winning teams, does DLS fit the mold?

“They have all the qualities,” Cimini said. “They have all the qualities. We can pitch, we can pick it up, we can hit. We got good senior leadership, and we got a coach that’s been there before. So I think it’s all lined up for us. We just got to go out there and play. And you know what? If we get beat, we get beat, but we’re going to get beat by somebody, we’re not going to beat ourselves. And that’s the main thing.”

The Pilots’ next district opponent is Roseville, who finished 7-17 with a 4-11 mark in the MAC Gold, on Friday, May 30 at 10 a.m. at Cousino.

The host Patriots will face MAC Blue champion Fraser, with the winners of each game meeting at 3 p.m. later that afternoon.

The regional round is where things figure to get spicy — whoever advances out of the Cousino district will most likely face either No. 1 Dakota or MAC Red third-place finisher Chippewa Valley.

“We got a lot of seniors hungry,” Luepke said. “I mean, as you know, got a lot of grit. I mean, we battled through some of these games. Like we battled through Rice, won that one in extras. Couldn’t be happier.”

Woods Tower wraps the season with a 6-23 record. Head coach Jose Jimenez said that the squad this year was a young one — they had just two seniors on the roster — and their two best players are both juniors.

One of those guys is Derek Akins — a long shortstop and one of their top pitchers, he walked twice against Luepke and moved from the infield to the mound after WWT starter Billy Godard recorded just one out. He went on to allow five more runs — four earned — in 3.2 innings with three strikeouts.

“I’m proud of this game right here, Derek Akins,” Jimenez said. “He’s a good ball player. He plays short for me, does what I need him to do when I need him.”

Landon Chamberlain was the Titans’ best hitter this season but injured his knee last week, keeping him out of the rest of their games.

With a schedule that included playing good teams in Richmond, Fraser and, of course, De La Salle, the hope is that next year’s team will be a year older and wiser and can compete for a league title.

“I ended the season with two little freshmen playing in the middle, you know, which gives us hope for the future,” Jimenez said. “So there’s been some good things that’s happened, but mostly frustrating stuff.”