Dons hold off Cameron for second sectional win

PITCHING FORM — Madonna’s Jacob Lazear delivers in relief against Cameron during Wednesday’s Class A Region 1, Section 1 tournament game at Bowman Field. – Andrew Grimm

WEIRTON — Madonna coach TJ Miller gave his team a simple goal for the sectional tournament — go 1-0 each day.

Through two days, the Blue Dons have done just that, though in very different ways.

After opening with a lopsided win over Hundred on Tuesday, the Blue Dons won a much closer contest on Wednesday, battling back from an early deficit then holding off Cameron for a 4-3 victory to advance in the winner’s bracket of the double elimination tournament.

“We knew Cameron was going to show up and play hard,” Miller said. “We played hard. We didn’t have our best game, our approaches at the plate were a little off … we had a lot of adversity, but our kids battled through it and came out on top. That’s what you have to do in postseason baseball.

“Our mentality is simple, it’s 1-0 every day and we did that (Wednesday).”

After Cameron (18-9), the No. 3 seed, took the early lead with a Lance Hartley solo homer in the top of the first, second-seeded Madonna (22-5) finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth when Logan Fedak drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, then, one batter later Leyland Nagy singled in a pair of runs to make it 3-1 Blue Dons.

Matt Geer made it 4-1 an inning later by racing home on a dropped third strike that got away from the Dragons.

Cameron was not ready to go away, however, as a run crossed on a Madonna throwing error on a steal attempt with two outs in the sixth, then another Blue Don miscue brought in another to make it 4-3.

The Dragons got their leadoff man on to start the seventh, and had a man on second with one out, but Matt Geer was able to slam the door shut for the save, ending the game with a strikeout.

“We had our chances,” Cameron head coach Adam Angel said. “They’re a good ballclub. They don’t make very many mistakes. We played them in the OVAC finals Saturday and I thought we left some plays out there on the field then. (Wednesday) I thought we pitched well enough to win, played defense well enough to win, we just didn’t swing the bat well enough to win.

“You can’t get into a game like this and strike out as many times as we did.”

Geer was the third Blue Dons pitcher to take the hill, as Fedak started and went five innings for the win, fanning five, and Jacob Lazear fanned two in a relief inning.

“Logan pitched a great game,” Miller said. “He’s been injured the last five or six weeks and he came in and delivered five strong inning. Jacob and Matt both came in and did their jobs. I’m very proud of those guys.”

The Blue Dons now travel to top-seeded Wheeling Central tonight, the winner advancing to the sectional final round.

“We’re going to get back at it tomorrow against a very good Wheeling Central team,” Miller said. “I know they’re going to bring their ‘A’ game, so we need to step up and bring our ‘A’ game.”

Cameron goes into the loser’s bracket, where it will host Magnolia tonight in an elimination game.

“Now we’ve got an uphill battle,” Angel said. “We’ll go until Tuesday if we can. We have to take it one step at a time.”

WVSSAC Class A Region 1, Section 1 tournament

No. 2 Madonna 4, No. 3 Cameron 3

Cameron 1-0-0 0-0-2 0 – 3 4 1

Madonna 0-0-0 3-1-0 x – 4 3 3

CAMERON (): Angel (LP, 4R, 3ER, 3H, 7K, 6BB), Hartley (1IP, 0R, 0H, 1K, 2BB) and Starcher. Hartley HR, D, RBI; Long S; Evans S.

MADONNA (22-5): Fedak (WP, 1R, 1ER, 2H, 5K, 1BB), Lazear (HLD, 1IP, 2R, 1ER, 1H, 2K, 2BB), Geer (SV, 1IP, 0R, 1H, 1K, 0BB) and Wells. Nagy 2S, 2RBI; Decapio S; Fedak RBI.