Nobody who has watched St. Dom’s baseball go to 11 Class C West championship games under coach Bob Blackman had any doubt what the Saints were going to do. Madison even knew, and it was destined to work, anyway.

“I really wanted to score first,” Blackman said. “I felt that we could play better from ahead against those guys. I thought they might press a little bit. Ray had a great bunt. He couldn’t have placed it any better.”

The squeeze play scored Matt Keaney. No. 8 St. Dom’s snagged another run in the inning with the help of a towering double by Mike Bryant and an error, setting the tone for a 3-1 preliminary round win over No. 9 Madison.

St. Dom’s (12-5) advances to its customary June showdown with top-seeded Dirigo, this time in a sizzling quarterfinal matchup at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Dirigo beat St. Dom’s in the 2013 regional final. The Saints returned the favor in the 2014 semifinals.

Justin Keaney plated the third St. Dom’s run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth.

It was plenty for senior left-hander Mitch Lorenz, who won for the sixth time this season. Lorenz allowed three hits and struck out seven. The run was unearned.

“We just knew we had to come in confident, and if we made the basic plays hopefully we could come out with a win,” Lorenz said.

Sophomore Ryan Emery was equally sensational for Madison (8-9). He gave up only two hits and also wasn’t touched for an earned run.

Emery issued three walks, however. Matt Keaney drew one of those to lead off the third after fouling off a two-strike pitch.

Younger brother Justin was in position to drive him home after two Emery offerings reached the backstop. Madison’s drawn-in infield took care of his chopper to third and froze Matt at third, setting the table for Mosca.

“We knew every run was going to be big, and we had to take advantage of the opportunities we had,” Mosca said. “We had a guy on third base. A lot of times during the year we didn’t get those guys in. We capitalized on that.”

Bryant followed with a 400-foot rocket that rolled to the fence. He subsequently stole third before Lorenz’s grounder forced a wide throw from shortstop.

The Bulldogs had an immediate opportunity to battle back but couldn’t take full advantage.

Cody Soucier reached on St. Dom’s and stole second. The first of Emery’s two singles on the afternoon put runners at the corners with nobody out.

Soucier scored, but at the price of a double play from Ryan Harvey to Bryant to Caleb Labrie. It was the beginning of a stretch of eight consecutive Bulldogs retired by Lorenz, who struck out Evan Bess to end the inning.

“Probably the hardest hit ball was the one they hit for a double play,” Blackman said. “Mitch threw a lot of strikes. One thing I noticed the last time we played them in (batting practice), and today even more so, they really like to get their hands out and hit the ball the other way. So we threw probably 60 percent fastballs, in. We got some good, nice, easy cue shots off the handle.”

St. Dom’s shut out Madison, 2-0, on May 20.

The Bulldogs didn’t advance another runner past first base. Emery singled to start the seventh but was wiped away by a fielder’s choice. Lorenz whiffed Devon Watt to end it.

“I felt pretty good today,” Lorenz said. “It feels like I haven’t thrown in a while. It definitely helps a lot.”

Two errors, a wild pitch and walks by Nate Richard and Matt Keaney set up St. Dom’s run in the fourth.

St. Dom’s will throw Bryant (3-0, 0.32 ERA) against Dirigo.

“We had to see how Mitch felt. Once he got in his groove, we were going to stay with him,” Blackman said. “We’ll go up to Dirigo and give it our best shot, let it fall where it falls.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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