Photo courtesy of Iowa Central Athletics: Iowa Central's Spencer Pederson connects at the NJCAA Div. II World Series this week in Enid, Okla.

ENID, Okla. — The Iowa Central baseball team stayed alive here Wednesday night at the NJCAA Div. II World Series thanks to some small ball and a strong effort on the mound by Jake Busson.

Behind Busson’s five scoreless innings in relief, the Tritons advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2010 with a 10-8 win in an elimination game over Madison.

Iowa Central (48-16 overall) will now take on top-seeded and No. 1 Pasco-Hernando State back here Thursday at 3 p.m. Pasco-Hernando State is the only team to deal the Tritons a loss at nationals, besting them on Sunday by a final score of 13-3 in five innings.

Cooper Nicholson drove in three runs, Isaiah Scott added two, and eight more players recorded a hit. Sawyer Stein and Spencer Pederson each scored twice, including the go-ahead and insurance runs in the sixth off a hit-by-pitch and sacrifice fly.

Busson, who picked up three strikeouts, recorded the final out on a grounder with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth.

Ryan Ohm got the start, going four frames with three strikeouts.

The Tritons jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one and led 4-2 going into the fifth. Madison, which has the most appearances all-time at the World Series, answered back with a five-spot to force Busson into action.

In the bottom of the fifth, Iowa Central plated four runs to tie it up before scoring what proved to be the winning runs an inning later. They took advantage of 10 walks, including two each by Bryson Carpenter, Chayton Fischer, Stein and Pederson.

Busson had logged just under 11 innings all season entering the game, but helped the Tritons secure a regional title with his performance vs. Southeastern in the finals earlier this month.

This is the first time since 2010 Iowa Central has advanced to the final four, having placeed fourth that year and also in 2001, ’02 and ’04.

Iowa Central will need to defeat Pasco-Hernando State twice to advance to the championship round, where it would take on either Pearl River or East Central. East Central eliminated ICCAC regular season champion Southeastern here on Wednesday afternoon.

The Tritons have qualified for the World Series 10 times, which is fourth-most in junior college baseball at the Div. II level. They have claimed runner-up trophies in 1997, 2000 and ’03.

Thursday night’s three-plus hour contest featured 344 total pitches thrown, with Iowa Central going a key 5-for-14 at the plate with two outs compared to 2 of 10 by Madison.