CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The top seed in Class A with 26 wins over 30 games ahead of state tournament play, No. 1 Madonna entered Thursday’s semifinal against Webster County looking to impose its will on a Highlander program making its first appearance at this stage.
Blue Dons’ starting pitcher Jacob Lazear did precisely that over a strong outing that spanned 5 2/3 innings and featured all but two of his outs recorded by strikeout. When the Madonna bats caught up and broke a scoreless tie with five runs in the fourth inning, the Blue Dons were well on their way to securing a spot in Saturday’s state title game with a 13-3 six-inning win at GoMart Ballpark.
“Jacob did a great job. He had 15 Ks and limited the freebies. Our approaches at the plate were a little bit slow to start, but once we dialed in, we changed a little bit of our approach and were thinking gap-to-gap and hunt fastball,” Blue Dons’ head coach TJ Miller said. “These guys stepped up and provided a little bit of relief for Jake. We did what we needed to do. We’re excited.”
Webster (13-14) freshman pitcher Maddox Brown was sharp early, allowing only a single to Madonna’s second batter of the game, Koleton Grishkevich, through the first three innings.
Not until Brown’s ground ball for the second out of the third inning did the Highlanders put the ball in play.
Still, Webster had a chance to lead in the fourth after Ryder Miller worked a leadoff base-on-balls and stole second. Lazear never wavered, striking out Isaac Snyder for the first out and Daniel Gaye for the final out of the inning after inducing a ground ball to second from Hunter Skidmore in between.
“He was throwing a little faster than we’re used to,” Webster head coach Jerry Skidmore said. “We’re a good hitting club, but he was pretty fast early on. I give him credit. He’s a good pitcher and he kept them where they needed to be to win the game.”
Seizing momentum from not falling behind, MHS showed why its the top seed in the home half of that inning starting with a one-out double from David Connors.
Matthew Geer was then hit by a pitch and both runners advanced on a stolen base, before Connors scored the game’s first run on a balk.
Following the balk, the Highlanders hurt their cause with an error that brought Geer around from second base for a 2-0 lead, and later in the inning, Reed Wilharm drilled a two-run double to left and Maddox Bowen’s productive ground ball out brought Wilharm in with the fifth run.
“It brought a little bit of energy,” Miller said of the balk. “It falls on me. We have a routine, but we need to tweak a little bit because it took an inning or two to get the jitters out. It definitely set the momentum.”
MHS added to its advantage in the fifth as Grishkevich scored on a wild pitch after leading off with a single.
Sam Brooks added a two-run single later that inning to leave WCHS with an 8-0 deficit.
“We started off great with a 0-0 game through three. They got on us in the fourth and had some movement on the bases,” Skidmore said. “We had the balk, the heat picked up and they started coming alive. They’re a really good baseball team.”
The Highlanders broke through in the sixth following an infield single from Miller and Snyder’s base-on-balls as Gaye slashed a single through the right side of the infield to plate Miller.
Geer, who replaced Lazear on the mound during the sixth, dropped a pop up that amounted to a two-run error and allowed the Highlanders to trail 8-3.
With a chance for Webster to draw closer, the inning came to an end when Hayden Myers was thrown out trying to steal home. The Highlanders wouldn’t bat again.
Madonna broke off four hits during its half of the sixth, while capitalizing on Webster’s third and final error to put up a five-spot and end the game early via the 10-run mercy rule.
Connors drove in the first of those five runs on a double, before an error during Geer’s at bat allowed the Dons to plate a pair.
Kaiden Wells added a run-scoring single before Brayden Miller finished things off with a double that allowed Wilharm to score the 13th run.
Lazear walked four and allowed three hits while striking out 15 in a 106-pitch effort that led to his sixth win this season.
“We had a game plan coming into today and rode Jacob, who’s thrown very well for us this year,” Miller said. “We still have Reed, David and Matt Geer available for Saturday, so pitching wise, as long as we’re mentally ready and they’re hitting their spots, we’re pretty set. We just have to help them out making routine plays, not throw around the baseball and have a good approach at the plate.”
Connors led the Madonna offense with three of the team’s 11 hits.
Brown was tagged for seven hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out and walked a pair.
“I’m excited for future years,” Skidmore said. “We’re super young and we’re bringing back seven of the nine starters, so we look forward to coming to Charleston more often.”