It wasn’t always pretty, but it got the job done.

It took a strong relief effort, a Newburgh Free Academy error, a bloop hit for the Pine Bush baseball team to open its home-and-home series with the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks with a 5-2 win on Friday afternoon at Mataraza Field.

It was Senior Day and the Bushmen had one of their seniors, Joseph Sorge on the mound. Sorge has been nursing a sore back since the third week of the season. It was his first start since the injury and it started off well, but it started affecting him in the third.

Sorge had two perfect innings before he gave up hits to Nick Schmidt, who stole second and then came around to score on John Ahearn’s single. Then after Dylan Iorlano’s RBI single gave Newburgh a 2-0 lead, Pine Bush coach Matt Boffalo brought in junior Mason Miranowicz to put out the fire.

“I didn’t expect to get the call as early as I did,” Miranowicz said. “I was expecting it a little later in the day. I haven’t gotten many opportunities this year, but I’m making the best of them.”

He acted quickly, striking out Roberto Reade and Joe Ponesse to end the inning. Miranowicz went the rest of the way, allowing only one hit, a double by Schmidt in the seventh inning. He walked two and struck out six.

“He was spotting his fastball well and his breaking ball was effective,” Boffalo said. “We were able to make the plays, and he made the pitches. That was the difference in the game.”

That, and a four-run fifth inning that was highlighted by Mark Cancelliere’s two-run single that gave the Bushmen their 5-2 lead.

Jack Taylor singled to start the inning, and after Sean Garcia bunted him over to second base on a disputed tag play, Michael Jacques singled Taylor to third. Then after a pop-out, Mike DeSena reached on an error by Newburgh shortstop Joe Alicea, which scored two runs to give the Bushmen a 3-2 lead.

Then Cancelliere’s single, a bloop just inside the right-field line and out of the reach of three Newburgh defenders, gave the Bushmen some insurance.

“That’s baseball,” Boffalo said. “That’s the game. You can hit it as hard as you can and make an out. And then you can hit one off the tip of the bat, and it drops in and scores a run.”

That was more than Miranowicz needed as he continued cruising.

“I was just relaxed,” he said. “Their chirping didn’t really get to me at all. I was just really relaxed.”

Relaxed, even when he gave up a deep double to Schmidt to start the seventh, but his defense gave him some help when Ahearn hit a liner right at Jacques, who doubled off Schmidt at second base to douse that rally.

“That was great,” Miranowicz said. “Love Mike Jacques.”

The Bushmen saw the Goldbacks again on Saturday afternoon, picking up nine runs in the fifth inning on their way to a 12-7 win. Connor Stacklum and Nick Croce both homered. Mike DeSena earned the win.

Earlier in the week, the Bushmen posted a 7-4 win over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders, and on Thursday, beat the Warwick Wildcats, 5-1, to win the OCIAA Division II championship via tiebreaker criteria. Even if the Wildcats beat the Valley Central Vikings on Wednesday and finish with an identical division record, the Bushmen will win the title because they beat the Wildcats by four runs and the Wildcats beat them by one.

“I think we’re ready for the playoffs,” Miranowicz said. “We’re feeling good and hitting well.

Everything’s going just fine.”