It wasn't as dramatic as a walk-off home run but the Carillon Sultans are just as happy with the game ending walk-off balk that kept their season alive Thursday night.

The Sultans rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and defeated the Elmwood Giants 6-5 in game three of their best-of-five Manitoba Junior Baseball League semifinal.

"We had to put our best effort out there being that it was an elimination game for us," said Sultans manager Kevin Dunn who watched his ball club cut the Giants lead in the series to two games to one. "If we didn't get a win then the season was over. That's what we talked about, let's got out there with some character. Let's go out there with some heart and an example of that was Cody Bartel. That hit that he laid out - it's leadership like that, that has definitely carried us this year."

It's was Bartel's hustle down the line that turned what could have been the first out of the seventh inning into an infield hit and got the ball rolling for the Sultans.

Burke Heide reached base on Giants third baseman's Aiden Brook's throwing errow which allowed Bartel to scamper to third.

Marcus Renaud singled home Bartel with the tying run and Heide trotted home from third base with the winning run when Elmwood pitcher Bryce Hunt was called for a balk trying to pick off Renaud at first.

Bartel says it was a huge confidence builder for the Sultans who lost 1-0 and 5-4 to the Giants at Koskie Field earlier this week.

"We had two stellar games before this and they both ended also in the seventh inning. It's a team win. That's what it is."

"It says a lot about the guys we have," added Bartel. "We have that never quit attitude. We've had probably 25 different guys play for us this year and we're kind of like a team of misfits you could say. We piece it together and never quit."

Game four goes Monday night at Koskie Field with the first pitch at 7 p.m.

The Sultans will be the home team.

If game five is necessary it will be played shortly after the completion of game four.