Crater's Morgan Austin leads off with a hit against North Eugene during Game 1 at Anhorn Field in Central Point Thursday.

With two runs in the top of the eighth inning, the Crater Comets were able to avoid elimination Friday evening for the second day in a row against a team from Utah at the American Legion A Northwest Regionals in Roseburg.

Crater had built a 6-0 lead but found itself tied with the Cache Wolverines after the Utah ballclub scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings at 7-all.

Despite the letdown, the Comets (32-7) didn’t let that affect them in the top of the eighth inning as Morgan Austin broke the tie with an RBI single and then was brought home on an RBI double by Cameron Bruce.

Austin was then able to close out the 9-7 victory with a scoreless frame, sending Crater into a 7 p.m. contest Saturday night against the Eagle River Wolves of Alaska, who beat the Comets 7-1 to open tournament play Wednesday.

The double-elimination tournament wraps up Sunday.

Carter Fuhrman went 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs and Austin was 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs to pace Crater against the Wolverines.

Austin allowed two hits and no runs over 1 ⅔ innings of relief pitching, while Bruce also had a strong relief outing with two hits and no runs allowed over 1 ⅓ innings to go with four strikeouts.