The City Series baseball championship will be on the line tonight (Friday) at Paul Smith Field.

A deciding Game 3 became necessary after the St. Anthony Bulldogs used power and pitching to post a 4-0 win Thursday night to even the series at 1-1.

The championship contest is slated to begin at 7 tonight.

After Josh McDevitt turned in a dominating pitching performance in the Hearts 8-1 win Wednesday night, it was Brock Fearday’s turn Thursday at Evergreen Hollow Park.

St. Anthony’s sophomore righthander limited EHS to just five hits over his 109-pitch, seven-inning performance. He walked four and struck out 10.

The Hearts had some scoring opportunities, but Fearday was able to get the key outs each time. EHS had two runners on in the first, fifth and sixth, but were unable to push any of them across the plate.

Kaden Nichols also pitched well for Effingham, but a pair of long balls were the difference.

The first came off the bat of Eli Levitt in the bottom of the first. The senior launched a 2-0 pitch over the leftfield fence to stake the Bulldogs to the early lead.

The deciding blow came in the third. After Ryan Schmidt drew a lead-off walk, Levitt singled with one out. Then with two outs, Connor Roepke lined a 1-2 pitch over that same leftfield fence to increase St. Anthony’s lead to 4-0.

That’s all Fearday and the Bulldogs needed to set up the deciding third game. After the turnout at each of the first two contests, a large crowd is expected tonight at Paul Smith Field.

The Bulldogs are now 21-4 on the season. The Hearts saw their seven-game winning streak snapped and are now 15-12.