MONTEREY, La. &045; His walks to the mound are plenty long enough.

But in the seventh inning with the tying run on third and the winning run on first, Monterey veteran head coach Hank Zizzi was as slow and deliberate as possible. His Wolves have lost more one-run games this season already than he’s care to stand, and they were on the verge of doing it again.

It worked. Two batters later, the Wolves walked off a 6-5 winner over Block for their win over the Bears in three meetings this season.

&uot;It was just settling them down,&uot; Zizzi said. &uot;The last inning they were starting to get rattled, and I brought them out there. Our mound conversations are more to relax them than it is to chew them. I was real proud of the way they battled back. Tonight we had a complete lineup and a complete team.&uot;

But you can imagine is was a pretty good relief for everyone in maroon Tuesday when pitcher Ryan Kemp got three-hole hitter Ryan King to strike out to end the game. The Bears had put a run across already to cut the lead to 6-5 when A.J. Sharp scored on a fielder’s choice and had Rod Jones on first base.

On deck was powerful cleanup hitter Jeremy Washington, too. This time, however, the Wolves were on the winning side of a one-run game.

&uot;We had to settle down, but we just tried to keep the morale going,&uot; said Kemp, one of two seniors on the roster. &uot;I just think we had some bad breaks (in earlier losses).&uot;

Kemp ended up tossing a four-hitter for the Wolves and making the pitches he needed to make as the game went on. The defense behind him had enough miscues to keep the Bears in the game &045; the Wolves had seven &045; including an error on an infield grounder in the seventh that put runners on the corners with just one out and a 6-4 Monterey lead.

All of Block’s runs were unearned, and Kemp finished the game with just one walk and five strikeouts.

&uot;We couldn’t get it going,&uot; Block head coach Denny Ray Spinks said. &uot;The hitters we had coming up (in the seventh) &045; two, three and four &045; they’ve been hitting all year but didn’t come through tonight. We’ve got to do a better job on the mental part of the game. Our pitchers pitched well, but we’ve got to work on the little things to go far in the playoffs.&uot;

For Kemp, he just got more in a groove from the fourth inning on. The Bears tied it up with three runs in the fourth thanks to four Monterey errors, but the Wolves got two in the bottom half to maintain the lead.

Matt Shively singled in Max Green, and Gary Evans scored on a wild pitch for a 5-3 lead. And from there Kemp was able to settle down, finishing each of the last three innings with a strikeout.

&uot;I came back, settled down and started throwing the ball better,&uot; Kemp said. &uot;I’d bring the fastball in there and come back with a changeup and curve and throw them off. I started throwing the curve just this year.&uot;

Said assistant coach Billy Metcalf: &uot;He’s got a good curveball and good changeup. He was going with the fastball and would come with the curve and changeup. He needs to stay on top of his curveball, but he’s staying on top of his curveball and not trying to muscle it. As long as he doesn’t try to muscle his pitches, he’s going to do well.&uot;

The Wolves got a run in the fifth that turned out to be the insurance they needed when Kemp singled in Layton Strebeck for a 6-4 lead. The Wolves had six hits in the contest but had a number of key hard-hit balls in the contest to make Zizzi feel better about his club’s chances at the plate.

Kemp also had a three-run blast in the first inning off Block starter King to score Strebeck and Ples Arthur.

&uot;Our bats are starting to come around,&uot; Zizzi said. &uot;Actually, you can hear it. You didn’t have to see it. We made solid contact, and several times we hit it right to them. All we had was one strikeout.&uot;