Baseball: Madison knocked out in regional return

BOWLING GREEN – Thursday evening was the end of a season, but for the Madison Rams the hope is that it's the start of more good things.

When Madison baseball coach Doug Rickert took over the program, he led them to the regionals three times in four years. Thirteen years later, Rickert earned a fourth trip.

"We're going to miss some big at-bats, but we have some young kids who do work hard and they love the game," Rickert said following a 4-1 loss to Toledo St. Francis in a Division I regional semifinal at Bowling Green State University. "If they continue to do it, that's what we hope to do. We hope to get back every year.

"We've won two conference championships now and won a district title, and we have some kids that work. If they continue to work, we're going to be fine."

Madison (18-13) gave No. 20 St. Francis (22-7) all it could muster. It was 1-1 into the top of the seventh when the Knights finally broke it open.

St. Francis pitcher Nick Lankard singled to right to start the inning and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Tim Organ, bringing up No. 9 hitter John Williams.

"He's one of the best 9-hitters around," St. Francis coach Tim Gerken said. "We like him down there because he sees a lot of straight pitches. He's been playing well the last couple of weeks and we were confident he would put the ball in play."

Facing a 1-2 count, Williams flipped one out to right field for a single when Gerken gave him the option to try a two-strike bunt.

"I chose to swing and I just drove in a run from second base," Williams said.

The throw from right fielder Hunter Ackerman slightly slipped from his hand, according to Rickert, and the runner easily scored.

"I can't say enough about Keen's effort," Rickert said of his starter. "He was fantastic. We knew he was starting to tire and we said we're going to give him one more batter, and the one batter we gave him got the base hit to right field."

Rickert pulled Keen who struck out two and walked one in six-plus innings. He scattered seven hits in throwing 89 pitches with 57 strikes. Madison ace Michael Penny pitched in relief and couldn't get comfortable with the mound. He threw just 15 pitches with three strikes. A wild pitch and a passed ball led to a second run and a sac fly by Jay Denman provided the third run for the Knights, as Rickert turned to Curtis French to pitch the final out.

"I'm never comfortable in high school baseball," Gerken said. "I've seen just about everything you can see."

Madison tried to make it interesting in the bottom of the seventh as Josh Smith recorded his second single and Kyle Galco was hit by a pitch. But that was all the Rams could produce against Lankard, who has just one loss in two seasons. He went the distance, throwing just 78 pitches for 54 strikes. His two-hitter included three strikeouts and a walk.

"Our seniors gave us a heck of an effort all their lives. We're not happy with it. We thought we were going to win it, but we battled some of the best teams in the state all the way through this tournament," Rickert said.

St. Francis will play Cleveland St. Ignatius, a 2-0 winner over Lakewood St. Edward, Friday at 5 p.m. at BGSU, while Madison saw its season come to an end.

"These guys are winners. You don't have to win the whole thing to be winners. They're winners. They showed up and they work every day. It's all you can ask for. Our seniors really showed our young kids what it takes."

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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Twitter: @McMotorsport