Head coach Mike Frates said his players would have to be perfect to succeed in the Division 1 South Sectional tournament, and, aside from a few mistakes in the field in the fourth inning, they nearly were.

Senior designated hitter Jack McCabe hit a monster, go-ahead solo shot in the top of the sixth inning, and junior Nick Steele threw a complete game as the thirteenth-seeded Indians beat fourth-ranked Somerset High 4-3 on its home field Saturday afternoon.

“We pitched and played defense,” said Frates, whose Indians went 9-7 on the year. “That’s our game.”

Frates said his team relies on solid defense as it doesn’t have any hard-throwing, strikeout pitchers.

“We’ve got to play defense behind them. When we’ve been successful this year, that’s been our recipe.”

Steele, who said he was “determined” coming into his first playoff performance, bounced back after giving up three runs in the fourth. Two Dartmouth errors and three doubles for Somerset evened the score after Dartmouth took a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

“I was even more determined,” he said. “I wanted to win.”

“It was a great team win,” said Frates. “The kids played well. We did everything today. Offensively, we hit the ball when we had to. We hung in there.”

McCabe’s blast, which came on a one-one count, easily cleared the left-field fence and almost completely carried the tall trees beyond the fence. He had two runs batted-in on the afternoon.

“He’s done it all year,” said Frates. “He’s carried us offensively all year. He’s the guy I want up. That’s just a great spot for him. He had a great at-bat. It was a one-one breaking ball kind of low. He did a great job of keeping his hands back. He’s such a strong kid. Huge. It was huge.”

Dartmouth High will travel to Medfield to face the fifth-seeded Warriors on Monday at 4 p.m.