BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Madison kept grinding Thursday afternoon at Steller Field.
Stymied all afternoon by Toledo St. Francis DeSales ace Nick Lankard, the Rams gave themselves a chance in the seventh inning but came up short in a 4-1 loss to the Knights in the Division I regional semifinals.
DeSales (23-8) will play Cleveland St. Ignatius for the regional title at 5 p.m. Friday at Steller Field. St. Ignatius beat Lakewood St. Edward 2-0 in Thursday’s other regional semifinal.
Madison (18-13) managed just two hits off Lankard, who improved to 15-1 in his career. “You’re not going to win many games with two hits, but our guys just kept battling,” Madison coach Doug Rickert said. “(Lankard) is a heck of a pitcher. He probably threw four breaking balls all day and he wasn’t overpowering, but he was always around the plate. He hit every spot.”
Threatening: Trailing 4-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh, the Rams put together one final scoring threat. Josh Smith stroked a one-out single before Kyle Galco was hit by a pitch. Cal Rickert then hit a sharp ground ball to second. Galco was erased at second but broke up the double play. Lankard then fielded a comebacker off the bat of Curtis French to end the game.
“Zane Harris smoked a ball to lead off the inning right at the center fielder. If it’s a few feet either way, it’s a double,” Rickert said. “Then Cal hit a shot right to the second baseman and (Lankard) made an outstanding defensive play on the ball Curtis hit. He made a couple of great defensive plays.”
Decisive Seventh: The game was tied 1-1 through six innings before the Knights struck for three in the top of the seventh. Lankard led off with a single and moved to second on Tim Organ’s sacrifice bunt. No. 9 hitter John Williams then hit a single to right. Hunter Ackerman came up throwing, but the ball slipped out of his hand and was up the third base line, allowing Lankard to score the go-ahead run. The Knights would add a pair of insurance runs on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
Hard-Luck: Alec Keen, who picked up the win in Madison’s district final victory over Findlay, took the loss. He gave up seven hits while striking out a pair.
“Alec did a great job,” Rickert said. “He has been huge for us in the tournament.”
Saying Goodbye: The Rams will lose a talented senior class, which includes Ackerman, Keen, Galco and Smith (who had both Madison hits) among others.
“We’re going to miss those guys,” Rickert said. “They played a lot of baseball for us the last four years.”
Something Brewing: Madison will return a talented nucleus which includes Wright State recruit Harris, staff ace Michael Penney and Mansfield Senior transfer Curtis French.
“We feel good about what we have coming back,” Rickert said. “We’ve got some kids who love the game and work hard.”
