WEIRTON - There are a lot of reasons why a team wins a state championship.

Luck is involved, as is senior leadership, players who accept their roles, some right moves from the coach that work out and a little self-fulfilled retribution to make up for the way the previous year ended.

"Not making it out of sectionals last year was not a good feeling," said Madonna senior Logan Linder.

Blue Dons baseball coach Jeff Baire chose sophomore Luca Fuscardo to pitch the West Virginia Class A state championship game last Sunday against East Hardy.

As Fuscardo took the bump at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, senior Connor Mogan took his position at first base.

"That way, we only had to switch two guys from the semifinal game - Luca and Logan," Baire said of Fuscardo and the senior Linder, who pitched a complete-game 6-1 win over Charleston Catholic in the semifinals. "The rest of our lineup stayed the same and that lineup had been working well for us as of late.

"Everybody's going to judge in that situation and wonder why would you throw Mogan, or why would you throw Luca in that situation. We chose to go with the guy who was a little bit more finesse, who was able to throw to spots a little bit more, and he did great through five and two-thirds innings.

"Tory (Fuscardo) comes in and does a great job and that change of pace, that extra four-to-five miles per hour, was just enough to have the bats slow for Connor when he came in and finished out the seventh and eighth innings.

"Connor was locked in when he came in and that says something about the seniors. They wanted this game badly."

Sophomore Will Bowser hit a one-out bases-loaded single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Blue Dons their second state championship in three years with a 5-4 victory.

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Chemistry leads Blue Dons to state title