STRONG DAY — Madonna starting pitcher Jacob Lazear delivers during Thursday’s Class A state semifinal in Charleston. Lazear struck out 15 batters as the Blue Dons advanced to Saturday’s state championship game. - Photo courtesy WVSSAC

CHARLESTON — Anyone who has played Madonna on the baseball diamond this season has found out that the Blue Dons line up is a hard one to keep down.

That proved to be true again in the opening game of the state tournament Thursday morning in Charleston.

Madonna, the top seed, was deadlocked in a scorless battle with fourth-seeded Webster County throught the first three innings, but things changed in a hurry from there inside GoMart Ballpark.

The Blue Dons exploded for 13 runs in the final three innings, rolling to a 13-3 run rule victory over the Highlanders to earn a spot in Saturday’s Class A state championship game.

“We had a lot of fans come down today, we had a great following, which was awesome to see. A very exciting win today for sure,” Madonna head coach TJ MIller said.

While it took the bats a while to get going, on the mound, Jacob Lazear was dealing from the start. He recorded his first seven outs – and 10 of the first 12 outs – by strikeout on his way to fanning 15 batters in 5 2/3 innings.

He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

Of the three runs allowed, just one was earned and he walked four before his pitch count ended his day one out shy of going what ended up being the distance.

“Jacob’s been solid for us all year,” Miller said. “Anytime we have Jacob on the mound, we feel super confident. He’s a great kid. If he’s on, he’s extremely tough to hit. He had 15 strikeouts today. There were a couple plays behind him we needed to clean up. I think out of their three hits, one was a bunt, the other one was more kind of like a swinging bunt, just kind of chipped off the bat and just kind of rolled. So those were two of the three hits. I think Jacob did a great job getting the job done.

“We rode Jacob for the whole game as much as we could, and it paid off. Jacob did a phenomenal job for us.

“We’ll have, Reed Wilharm for Saturday, and Matt Geer and David Connors, all three available. And those three have been rock solid for us all year.”

Madonna (27-4) finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth when Connors hit one of his two doubles on the day, stole third and scored on a balk for the game’s first run. A second run scored on the first of three Webster County (13-14) errors, then Wilharm’s two-run double made it 4-0 Dons.

Maddox Bowen added an RBI groundout before the Highlanders could get out of the inning.

An inning later, the Dons tacked on as Koleton Grishkevich, who had two hits on the day, scored on a wild pitch, and Sam Brooks singled in a pair of runs for an 8-0 lead.

The Dons were threatening to end the game early with two runners on, but Webster County managed to escape for another inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Highlanders made some noise as they scored three runs with two outs, the last two coming on an error.

Madonna, though, was not done scoring as they scored five more in the bottom half to end the game.

A run scored on an error to start the game-ending surge, then a two-run double from Matt Geer made it 11-3.

Kaiden Wells’ RBI single brought Madonna one run away from a return trip to the capital city Saturday, then a two-out RBI single from Brayden Miller brought things to the early end.

“They did a good job keeping us off balance,” coach Miller said. “The first kid they threw was a lot of big junk ball thrower, kind of kept a lot of speed for the majority of his pitches. So the timing with our hitters was a little off at the beginning.

“Once they started changing the approaches at the plate a little bit, they saw a lot more success. David Connors was big for us hitting again, of course, he’s been solid all year. Koleton Grishkovich had a great day hitting, so did Reed Wilharm. Brayden Miller laid down a great bunt for us.

“Once we changed our approaches a little bit at the plate, it seemed like our guys got a little bit of rhythm and got going.

“I think some of it was pre-game jitters, obviously, with coming down here, big ballpark, state tournament, state semis … I think a little bit of pre-game jitters struck a little bit early as far as messing with our approaches at the plate. And once they kind of got through that, they were fine and hitting on all cylinders.”

UP NEXT

Madonna will look for the third state championship in school history on Saturday morning when they battle East Hardy back at GoMart Ballpark.

East Hardy (13-15), the No. 3 seed, toppled No. 2 seed Gilmer County 11-1 in the other state semifinal on Thursday.

The opening pitch with the state championship on the line is set for 10 a.m.

“We got to watch the other semifinal game and East Hardy jumped on them,” coach Miller said. “They’ve got a very good ball club. Our team’s got a lot of respect for them. So we got to get a good practice in (today) and live in the zone on Saturday and get our bats active early and often, and I think we’ll be okay.

“I know they had some injuries this year. A couple of their bigger players were out for chunks of the year, large chunks. And they play a respectable schedule also. Their record is a little bit deceiving. We respect what East Hardy brings.

“Our guys are pretty locked in and they’re fired up and they know it’s coming, especially after watching their game (Thursday). We’re going to get back at it tomorrow, hopefully fix a few things mentally and with approaches at the plate and clean some things up and have a great day of practice and hopefully we bring our best Saturday and make everybody proud.

“Get one more and hold the trophy, that’s the ultimate goal.”

WVSSAC State Tournament

Class A Semifinals

at GoMart Ballpark (Charleston)

No. 1 Madonna 13, No. 4 Webster County 3

WC 0-0-0 0-0-3 – 3 3 3

M 0-0-0 5-3-5 – 13 12 1

WEBSTER COUNTY (13-14): Brown (LP, 4 1/3IP, 9R, 7ER, 7H, 2K, 2BB), Lewis (1 1/3IP, 4R, 3ER, 4H, 0K, 0BB) and Skidmore. Gaye S, RBI; Miller S; Wright S.

MADONNA (27-4): Lazear (WP, 5 2/3IP, 3R, 1ER, 3H, 15K, 4BB), Geer (1/3IP, 0R, 0H, 0K, 1BB) and Wells. Lazear T; Connors 2D, S, RBI; Geer D, RBI; Wilharm D, 2RBIs; Grishkevich 2S; Brooks S, 2RBIs; Miller 2S, RBI; Bowen RBI.