Wickliffe walked into Danko Field knowing it would be tough, but you wouldn’t have known that looking at the final score. The Blue Devils stunned Trinity 10-3 in a Division II sectional final on Wednesday.
Pitcher Dominic Motta pitched a complete game, only giving up two hits, one earned run and striking out two. He had everything working from the time he let got the ball out of his hand from the first pitch.
“I made them hit my pitch and I’m happy that the defense was behind me today,” Motto said. “A key point was our outfielders and that ran a lot of ground”
Wickliffe jumped on the board early as Rob Johnson scored off an error in the first inning.
The Blue Devils added two more in the third when Dylan Ward hit one in the the gap to right center, scoring Nick Colbert and Christian Martinitis to make it a 3-0 game.
The Blue Devils batted around in the Fourth. The inning started with a lead-off double from center fielder Lucus Thomeier. Wickliffe scored four times in that inning and one of the biggest hits came from Johnson, who plated a key two-run single.
“We wanted our bats to come alive today and that happened.” Johnson said. “I just was trying to put the ball in play.”
In front of Johnson was Lucas Thomeier who went 2-for-4 and Nick Colbert led the way going 4-for-4 with an RBI.
“We were ready to play.” Coach Phil Motta said. “Trinity beat us in beginning of the season, but today we were a different team and we went out and showed confidence.”
Trinity did try to start a rally, scoring two in the fifth inning but it wasn’t enough to cool down Dominic Motta and Wickliffe’s defense continued to make plays.
“We didn’t hit today.” Trinity coach George Hohman said. “Their pitcher kept us off balance the whole game. But on their offensive end, they hit the ball well and they definitely earned it.
Trinity drops to 17-5 with the loss and still has control of its own destiny with the North Coast League White Division Championship in its sights.
The Trojans face conference rival Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph Thursday.
No. 7 seed Wickliffe advances to face No. 3 seed Kirtland in the Lakewood District semifinals on May 16.
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