Essex Junction, Vt. — The Hartford High baseball team got a little closer to its intended destination this season. And it ended up just as far away.

Senior pitcher Abraham Koval threw a complete-game four-hitter and escaped jams in the sixth and seventh innings as top-ranked Essex denied No. 4 Hartford a berth in the Vermont Division I final, beating the Hurricanes, 4-1, on Wednesday at Essex High.

It’s the second straight semifinal ending for the Canes (12-4), who dropped a 2-1 decision at St. Johnsbury — 75 miles from UVM’s Centennial Field and the finals — as an 11th seed last spring. This defeat came all of 5½ miles from Centennial, but was no less painful.

Hartford used an unearned run in the third to take its only lead. The Hornets (17-2) responded with three in the fourth off Hurricane ace Jordy Allard, adding an insurance run one inning later.

Koval and his defense did the rest. The right-hander confounded Hartford bats all afternoon with off-speed pitches that left Hurricane batsmen off-kilter. He retired nine straight batters after Hunter Perkins’ RBI single in the third and picked up two double plays from the guys behind him, the latter of which ended the game.

“We’ve got to do better,” subdued Hartford coach Jarrod Grassi said. “We made some mistakes, and it stings. Unfortunately, these games come down to that. They capitalized on them. It’s just tough.”

The Southern New Hampshire University-bound Allard was his usual dominant self in the first three innings, retiring the first nine Essex batters he faced with five strikeouts on just 32 pitches. When Perkins drove in Nick Wright with a two-out single past diving Essex first baseman Maverick King in the third, a 1-0 lead looked like it could be enough.

The Hornets, however, had other plans in the home fourth. Leadoff hitter Tyler Roberge singled, Koval walked — just the third free pass from Allard all season — and King singled to center, scoring Roberge to tie the game. A wild pitch plated Koval, and a passed ball brought in King for a 3-1 advantage.

“We went in with a game plan; we really didn’t start off with the game plan,” Essex coach Chris Richards said. “We knew that we had to just get to him, get guys on, bunt, anyway that we could get on. And we knew that we were going to get to him in some way.”

No. 9 hitter Grady Cram delivered Essex’s final run in the fifth with a single to left to score designated hitter Robert Meslin. The Hornets didn’t need any further offense because Koval had his act under control.

Although occasionally off-target (Koval hit three batters on the day), the senior righty dictated terms at his best and wiggled out of trouble during his less-sharp moments. Koval induced back-to-back infield pop outs from Hartford’s Kyle Hamilton and Nate Robinson to escape a bases-loaded one-out jam in the sixth. Essex closed out the win in the seventh when left fielder Casey Mulrow grabbed Dylan Spencer’s shallow liner and doubled Riley Packard off second base for the game’s final two outs.

“He’s coming off three or four days’ rest, and he didn’t have 100 percent, but I think he did pretty well with that,” Richards said of Koval. “He’s stepped up for us.”

Perkins finished the day 2-for-3 with the run batted in for Hartford. Austin Gaudette and Allard accounted for the Canes’ other base hits.

Seniors Allard, Robinson, Wright, Spencer, Matthew Libuda, Brendan Whitney and Adam Potter suited up in Hartford colors for the final time.

“Our goal is to try to get through the regular season healthy and try to make a run for it,” Grassi said. “We were able to do that. We came into the game with our best on the mound. You’ve just got to tip your cap to them.”

Fungoes: Allard finished with seven strikeouts, the one walk and gave up six hits. He ends the year with 85 strikeouts against three walks and 14 hits over 45⅓ innings. He threw 89 pitches on Wednesday, 58 for strikes. … Koval fanned three and walked two to go with the three HBPs. He tossed 84 pitches over seven frames with 54 strikes. Hartford helped him out by going down in order on three pitches (ground out, fly out, fly out) in the fifth. … Essex will meet No. 2 Burr & Burton at 5 p.m.on Saturday at Centennial to decide the state championship. The Bulldogs beat No. 6 Burlington on Wednesday, 3-2.

Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.