WEIRTON — The Madonna baseball team is on a roll as the Blue Dons look to defend their OVAC championship.

Madonna – the No. 1 seed — scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning against No. 4 seed Trinity Christian, and the Blue Dons never looked back en route to a 17-1 victory in five innings against the Warriors in an OVAC Class 1A Tournament Semifinal Monday evening at Bowman Field.

“It was very important to score first,” Madonna (13-2) head coach T.J. Miller said. “No matter who you play, you want to come out ready to go. We came out ready to play today. I have a lot of respect for Coach (Wes) Hopkins for the job he does with his group. He has a small group numbers-wise.

“Our kids did a great job. I am proud of the guys. We came out ready to play, and we took care of business.

“Jacob Lazear was lights out on the mound. He did a great job for us.”

The win was Madonna’s 10th straight of the season.

“We are playing good baseball, and we know there are a lot of teams who want to dethrone us,” Miller said. “We just have to stay in ourselves and keep working hard. We have to play fundamentally sound baseball.

“The guys are really hungry. They want to win another OVAC title. They are pretty focused. They are locked in.”

With the win, Madonna will play No. 3 seed Cameron in the semifinals out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex. Cameron defeated No. 2 seed Conotton Valley, 9-3 in the other semifinal Monday on the road.

“We played both teams last year,” Miller said. “We have got a lot of respect for both programs. We see Cameron a lot more because they are in our region.

I have a lot of respect for Coach (Adam) Angel. When they pitch their stud – Kason Angel – they are tough to beat. We are going to have to be ready to play. We are going to have to be locked in and ready to go. We are playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Madonna, the No. 1 seed defeated No. 2 Cameron, 10-4, in the final last year.

Lazear picked up the win for Madonna against Trinity Christian (7-9). Lazear struck out nine without walking a batter in his three innings of work on the mound. Sam Brooks came on to pitch the fifth. Brooks struck out three and walked one in his two innings of work.

Trinity Christian used three pitchers. Brady Hutson started and took the loss. He struck out two and walked four in 1 1/3 innings on the mound. Nathan Adams pitched the next 1 2/3 innings, striking out one and walking one. Bryson Sanders pitched the fourth. He struck out one and walked one.

The boys from Hancock County outhit the visitors, 16-1.

Individually, Matt Geer collected two singles, a home run and four RBI, Reed Wilharm delivered three singles and four RBI and David Connors contributed a single, a double, a triple and an RBI. Also, Kaiden Wells tallied two doubles and an RBI, Reno Fuscardo finished with two singles and two RBI and Koleton Grishkevich chipped in with a single and two RBI. Finally, Lazear recorded a single and an RBI.

Parker Hopkins produced a double and an RBI for the Warriors.

After scoring four in the first, the hosts erupted for 10 in the second to increase their advantage to 14-0. The victors plated a pair of runs in the third to extend their advantage to 16-0. Both teams scored a run in the fourth.

“I am extremely proud of the guys,” Miller said. “We are going to get back to work.”

Madonna is scheduled to play Wellsville at 5 p.m. today on the road up at Hammond Park before taking on East Liverpool at 5 p.m. Wednesday also on the road.

“We play Wellsville Tuesday and East Liverpool Wednesday,” Miller said. “We are going to get a lot of bullpen work. We are going to be on a strict pitch count. We have our Prom Thursday, so we will be off. We are going to manage our pitchers. We are going to get a lot of work from our bullpen.

“Fortunately, we are deep in pitching. That is one of our stronger suits. We are definitely going to have guys ready to go.”