Nick Henthorn DELIVERY — Madonna's Jacob Lazear fires against Cameron in Thursday's regional game.

CAMERON — Down two heading into the seventh inning, the Blue Dons didn’t quit.

Madonna put the pressure on the Cameron Dragons in the top of the seventh, quickly loading the bases, and– helped by multiple Cameron miscues– the Blue Dons were able to score four runs in the inning, holding on for a 7-5 victory over the Dragons in the WVSSAC Class A Region 1 playoffs at Cameron High School, and forcing an all-important winner-take-all game Friday at the same site with a spot in the state tournament at stake.

“I talked to the kids pre-inning, said, listen, show some excitement, let’s get after it, let’s have the right approaches at the plate, let’s put the ball in play, force them to make the plays there,” Madonna head coach TJ Miller said of his team’s big seventh inning.

“Luckily, you know, a couple mistakes went in our favor and we capitalized on them and these guys had energy and we kept it going. I’m super proud. It was a back-and-forth game. You know, we easily could have packed it up going into that seventh down two. But these guys played with a lot of heart and it ended up working out for us in the end. Our motto’s been one day at a time, one game at a time. And we live to see a decider tomorrow, which is what it’s all about. We’re going to regroup tonight and get back after it tomorrow.”

Madonna’s Sam Brooks, Evan Kaczmarek and Tyler Dillon all reached to start the inning via a walk, an infield hit, and a bunt for a hit, respectively.

A pitching change brought freshman Landen Francis onto the mound. The Blue Dons’ Connor Lancaster punched a fly ball to the right-center gap, and though Dragons outfielder Skyler Cooey tried to stretch out for the catch, tumbling down to the grass in the process, the ball popped out of his glove– but with all of Madonna’s runners frozen while the ball was in the air, only one run scored, halving Cameron’s lead to a 5-4 advantage.

Francis struck out his next batter, but the next two at-bats caused headaches for Cameron. Brennen Gray and Reno Fuscardo each hit ground balls. Both times the Dragons tried to make the force-out play at the plate, but both times the fielder’s throws were off the mark and ended up going to the backstop, allowing one run to score in each play and leaving Madonna with a 6-5 lead.

Maddox Bowen hit an RBI groundout to second base to tally another run for the Blue Dons. A popup mercifully ended the inning.

“We didn’t execute the game plan,” Cameron head coach Adam Angel said. “We knew they were going to put the ball in play. We knew we had to play good defense. Seven errors, it’s hard to win a game. And it just happened to bite us in the last inning.”

In contrast, Madonna’s defense helped them put an abrupt end to the bottom of the seventh. Cameron leadoff batter Soier Reed drew a walk to start the frame, and the senior stole second base, moving to third on a groundout.

The next batter, Dragons senior Kason Angel, ripped a line drive– right to Kaczmarek at third base, who had the wherewithal to make a quick step to the third-base bag, catching out the runner before he could retreat.

It made for a complete-game victory for Madonna pitcher Jacob Lazear, who was charged with four earned runs and struck out seven.

“I thought Jacob Lazear did a phenomenal job today as far as being very efficient, lived around the zone,” Miller said. “He hasn’t gotten to throw a whole lot this season because of a little bit of an injury bug, but there was no taking the ball out of his hand that last inning. I talked to him going into it, he said, no, absolutely, it’s mine. So I rolled with it.

“Jacob’s our guy. He’s our ace. He’s our leader. He was efficient there. And then Kaczmarek at third made a heck of a play to end it. We dug deep there and we capitalized. So that was an exciting finish. We know we got to regroup though and get back at it tomorrow.”

Madonna got on the board first, a runner coming home on a passed ball in the top of the first.

Francis equalized in the bottom of the second inning, belting a no-doubt solo home run over the left field fence.

A two-out dropped-ball error on a high fly in the top of the third allowed Lazear to score, and gave the Blue Dons the lead.

Cameron once again tied the game after Reed and Talen Brown hit back-to-back doubles, Brown’s fireball down the third base-line bringing Reed home.

Cameron took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth after Zayde Long singled up the middle, took second on a passed ball, stole third, and trotted home after the throw down ended up over Kaczmarek’s head and in the outfield.

Madonna tied the game 3-3 on a RBI base hit by Lancaster in the top of the fifth. In the bottom-half, Cameron benefitted from a Madonna error, a would-be 6-4-3 double play turning sour after the throw to first skipped away from the first baseman and allowed two Cameron runners to score.

Lancaster finished with two hits and two RBI for the Blue Dons.

Brown had two hits, a single and a double, for Cameron. Francis’ home run and Reed’s double accounted for all of the Dragons’ extra-base hits.

“We told them all after the game, we just got to play our game,” Angel said, looking on to Friday’s contest. “We play our game, they’re going to give us our chances. We just have to execute. We execute, we win. Hopefully we can bring all aspects to the game tomorrow and try to get them a W.”

Today’s match up is set for 5:30 p.m..