We've heard of Mr. October.

Mr. November, even.

Meet Mr. May.

Lancaster Catholic's Kevin Cotchen slammed three home runs, eclipsing by one his season output to that point, to power the Crusaders to a 9-3 win over Pequea Valley in Thursday's L-L Section Four championship at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.

"I told him he had to put this team on his back and he did," said Chris Kiehl, who in his first season as Crusader boss guided his team to its third straight section title.

"I had a quick swing, short to the plate," said Cotchen, who just missed a fourth homer when his final drive of the day was pulled down at the base of the left-field fence. "I felt good today."

The senior third baseman teamed with the other half of Catholic's "Special K" combo — senior right-hander Kevin Regan — to lead the Crusaders (11-6 L-L, 12-8 overall), who had lost their two previous meetings with the Braves (10-7, 11-9) by a combined score of 12-4.

Reached for three early runs, Regan settled down and mixed an array of fastballs, sliders, curves and change-ups to become nearly unhittable after the second inning. He allowed just two hits — both singles — from the third through the seventh innings and went the distance to raise his record to 5-2.

"The game plan was to keep them off-balance, get the off-speed stuff over the plate for strikes," said Regan, who threw 85 pitches, 61 for strikes. "The defense locked down behind me."

The Crusader offense, meanwhile, rapped out 16 hits and beat nemesis Brandon Beiler for the first time in three tries this spring. The Braves' slick southpaw painted the corners and through five innings had allowed three runs on three swings from Cotchen. But he was driven from the mound in the sixth when the Crusaders batted around and scored six runs.

Catholic returns to War Memorial Field for Saturday's opening round of league playoffs to take on Section Two runner-up Solanco at 4 p.m.

Also at War Memorial Saturday, Section One champ Manheim Township meets Section Three runner-up Manheim Central at 10 a.m.; Pequea Valley faces Section Two champ Ephrata at 1 p.m.; and Section Three king Lampeter-Strasburg meets Section One runner-up Cedar Crest at 7 p.m.

Catholic almost didn't get an opportunity to reclaim its title. The Crusaders trailed the Braves by a game going into Monday's regular-season finale. But at the same time Pequea Valley was being upset by Annville-Cleona, the Crusaders were cruising past Lebanon Catholic to force a one-game playoff.

"The baseball gods allowed this game to happen," Kiehl said. "We took advantage of the opportunity."

No one more so than Cotchen.

His first homer came on a 3-2 count and was pulled into the left-field bleachers. It gave Catholic a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Braves countered with a pair of runs in their first at-bat on RBI singles from Dan Stoltzfus and Tyler Schmitt. Tyler Clark's RBI groundout in the second made it 3-1.

Cotchen slugged his second homer — also to left — to lead off the third. He tied the score at 3 when he led off the fifth with his third homer, this a booming drive to center.

He reached on an error and scored his fourth run of the game in the sixth, an inning further highlighted by Mac McCafferty's two-run double, Rob Lehman's two-run single and RBI singles from Dan Long and Bryan Haberstroh.