Cairo led after only one pitch of the Class 1 state quarterfinal-round baseball game against Northwest of Hughesville on Wednesday, but it was the last pitch of the game.

The Bearcats’ Gage Wilson hit a two-out grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh, enabling Cairo to end the Mustangs’ season, stunning the top-ranked team in the state 7-6.

For four batters, Northwest was one out away from winning the game and advancing to next week’s Class 1 Final Four. In addition, the Mustangs were one strike away from wrapping up the win on multiple pitches, yet they let Cairo wriggle off the hook every time.

Trailing 6-3 with the bases empty and two out in the bottom of the seventh, a single and a pair of walks to Bearcat batters who hadn’t reached base all day loaded the sacks before Wilson stepped to the plate to blast his only hit of the contest over the right field fence.

Northwest had been on top from the very beginning as its first four batters of the game all had hits, scoring three runs. A two-run single by Pierson Tichenor and Nick Crosswhite’s RBI base hit made it 3-0 early.

The Mustangs then widened it to 4-0 in the fifth on Blaine Kreisel’s triple and Gavin Killion’s run-scoring single.

However, the bottom of the fifth was where Cairo started to show some signs of life. After Kreisel had no-hit the Bearcats for the first four innings, Cairo got a two-run single from Tyler Davis before a wild pitch scored another run, slicing the deficit to 4-3.

Northwest appeared to ice the game with two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. The Mustangs loaded the bases with no one out before a ground ball double play and a wild pitch chased across a pair of runs.

Then in the bottom of the seventh, in his second inning of relief, Killion struck out the first two batters that he faced before repeated disaster hit the Mustangs.

Cairo won despite being out-hit by the Mustangs 10 to seven. In addition to the Wilson grand slam, Jack Prewitt and Austin Wright each had two hits and a run scored. All of Northwest’s offense came from the top four batters in its order. Killion went four for four and scored twice, while Kreisel had three hits and three runs scored, and Tichenor chipped in with two hits and two RBIs.

Killion suffered the loss after Kreisel pitched the first five frames.

Prewitt got the win for the Bearcats as he threw one inning in relief of Logan Head.

Now 14-5, Cairo advances to the state semifinals in Ozark when the Bearcats battle Oran on Monday.

Northwest ended the season at 28-3, as the No. 1-ranked Mustangs saw a 23-game winning streak end, having not lost since April 1 when Lee’s Summit Christian stopped them in the Marshall Tournament.