GLEN DALE — John Marshall coach Mark Cisar realized one huge aspect after Thursdayís game against Brooke. The Bruins left a lot of runners on base. The result worked out in the Monarchs favor, though, as they came back from a two-run deficit to secure a 3-2 victory during a West Virginia Class AAA Region One, Section One matchup at John Marshall High School.

John Marshall will face Wheeling Park for the sectional title today at Wheeling Park High School as it’ll have to defeat the Patriots twice.

“We kept it close, we battled back and they left a lot of guys on base,” Cisar said. “They could have blown this away and like I told (Brooke coach) Ron (Ujcich Jr.) after the game, they had bases loaded two or three times, didn’t get anything out of it. (Joel) Wise just battled. He didn’t have his great stuff, but he battled and kept us in the game. He gave us a chance to win it in the end.

“We have to start hitting the ball. We’re not hitting the ball right now and it shows. That’s what we’ve been doing all year long is hitting the ball and scoring runs, but right now, we’re not scoring runs. But it was a very resilient effort by our kids. We had some good at bats late in the game.”

The Monarchs had to battle back all game long as the Bruins scored their two runs in the first inning. Nick Langley led off the game by reaching base safely on an error followed by a Nick Bailey single. Those two eventually scored Brooke’s runs.

The Bruins still had the bases loaded in the first after scoring their runs, but the Monarchs were able to get out of the jam. It also happened in the third inning, too.

“It stings a little bit. We were right there in the ballgame,” Ujcich said. “A couple little plays go our way and I bet you we left 15 guys on base in scoring position. Bases loaded early, we get run out of that inning. We didn’t get the timely hitting (Thursday).

“Monday we were down here and even at Park (Wednesday), we had some timely hitting. But we didn’t get the timely hitting late in the game (Wednesday) and into (Thursday) when we had the guys in the scoring position we needed.”

It also happened in the the seventh inning. With the Monarchs up 3-2, they were able to get the first two outs quick. However, Josh Shorts tallied a single to give the Bruins some new life. Alex Lilly followed and reached base on a throwing error. The ball went out of play that advanced the runners to second and third. John Marshall, though did not fold as Wiley Pratt –who came in to relieve Wise — relaxed a bit and field a grounder to him as he threw it to first and ended the game.

“Wiley Pratt stayed nice and calm, threw a couple of nice strikes, field his position and finished out well for us,” Cisar said. “But again, they had two guys in scoring position again. It was all day long. They we’re a big hit from putting us away. Even though we didn’t have our best stats, they did a nice job.”

The Monarchs plated their first run in the fourth inning with the help of an error. Shane Dobbs secured a double earlier in the frame and was able to come around and score. John Marshall tied it an inning later as John Davis tallied a RBI single to score Jacob Mason, who also had a single in the inning.

The Monarchs took the lead for the good when Brooke walked Josh Schramm with the bases loaded to put the score at 3-2.

“You still got to like your chances,” Cisar said about going up against Park. “We’ve put together a couple of streaks this year a couple of times. When we get the bats going again, we will be in good shape.”

Davis was the lone Monarch to polish two hits as he had two singles while Schramm supplied a double. Wise went 6.1 innings as he had three strikeouts.

For the Bruins, Bailey led the offense with two singles. Tyler Maczko pitched a solid six innings tallying two strikeouts. Langley also had two strikeouts as he came in the sixth.