In its final matchup of the regular season with cross-lake rival Bellevue, Mercer Island was looking to gain ground at the top of the KingCo standings. Only one run separated the two teams through five innings of play. But behind a five-run sixth inning, Bellevue pulled away late to beat Mercer Island 6-0 Wednesday night at Island Crest Park, clinching the 3A KingCo league crown.

The Wolverines held the Islanders to two hits on the evening, with starting pitcher Connor Todd allowing one hit in five innings of work in his second matchup against the Islanders this season.

“He’s got good stuff,” Islander coach Dominic Woody said of Todd’s performance. “[He had a] tough angle and got good movement on his fastball. I thought today we made better adjustments against him than we did the first time around. When we hit balls hard, they played deep and we hit balls at guys.”

Bellevue (15-3, 13-3) broke the scoreless game in the second inning, when Jack Savard reached first on an uncaught third strike. Two batters later, Robby Lundquist brought Savard home, swinging for a double into left-center field to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.

Through five innings, Mercer Island’s Will Mansfield otherwise kept the Wolverines in check from the mound, allowing four hits while striking out four. At the plate, the Islanders (14-5, 12-5) stranded a runner at second in the bottom of the third, and had another scoring opportunity with runners on the corners in the bottom of the fifth. But with two outs, Michael Bantle’s screaming liner found its way into the glove of Bellevue’s shortstop.

The Wolverines made them pay the following inning. Chris Schasteen opened the top of the sixth with a single and advanced to third base on consecutive Bellevue ground-outs. After an intentional walk to Savard, Todd swung for a double to score two more for the Wolverines. Following a Mercer Island pitching change, Bellevue scored three more runs before the Islanders could retire the side.

“It’s one thing to be down 2-0 and going to hit, but you go from two to three, then all of a sudden it snowballs to five, six,” Woody said. “It’d be difficult against a good pitcher like that to come back from that, and [against] a good ball club.”

The Islanders managed to get two runners on in both the sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t advance past third base.

Schasteen and Lundquist each had two hits for Bellevue, while Jordan Flournoy batted in two runs. Alex Shanks registered both of Mercer Island’s hits, going 2-3 at the plate. As a team, the Islanders drew seven walks.

Next, the Mercer Island will host Juanita (8-11, 8-9) for its regular-season finale at 7:15 p.m. Friday at Island Crest Park.