He waited until Wednesday.

That’s when Coy Angel and Lance Hartley took the mound and combined for 10 strikeouts as Cameron defeated the visiting Maroon Knights 6-4 in a Class A Section One game.

The win gives top-seeded Cameron two days to rest before Saturday’s sectional title game, while Central will host the winner of today’s game between Madonna and Paden City on Friday.

“Yeah we got beat by them twice earlier in the year but they’ve never seen Coy and Lance,” Coach Angel said. “So we got to come into this game with two fresh arms and two guys they haven’t really seen before. We did just enough to win. Coy pitched really well but his pitch count went up. The strategy of the whole thing was, ‘Do we burn him up or do we go after the win?’ Hopefully it worked out. Now we’re off for a couple of days and we’ll come back Saturday and try to beat whoever comes back out.”

Coach Angel decided to let Coy Angel go as long as he could and the decision paid off. The sophomore right-hander fired six strikeouts over 5.2 innings but he also walked eight. Lance Hartley entered with two outs in the sixth and the bases loaded and delivered a strikeout to escape the jam. He went on to strike out the side in order to complete the save.

“We had 10 strikeouts and eight fly balls,” Central coach Jason Rowe said. “You can’t win baseball games like that. You have to put the ball in play like we did (Tuesday). We just didn’t put it together (Wednesday) but we’ll be back (Thursday).”

Coy Angel got the Dragons on the board first with a two run single in the first.

Wes Stracher entered in the first as a pinch-runner and stole third, which forced an errant throw into right field, allowing Starcher to race home to create a 3-0 Cameron cushion.

The Knights came right back in the top of the second as Braxton Billick provided a clutch two-run single of his own to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Cameron rattled off the next three runs as Hartley ripped a RBI single and Coy Angel produced another two-run knock for a 6-2 advantage after two.

Central continued to fight as Michael Toepfer belted a solo home run to left field in the third and Ben Foster garnered a RBI single to right in the fourth to make it a 6-4 Dragons’ edge.

However, with Hartley’s late-inning dominance, that’s as close as the Knights got to slaying the Dragons.

Freshman Seth Cover was also strong on the hill for Central as he struck out 13 and walked just one in a complete game effort.

“Seth Cover pitched an amazing game,” Rowe said. “He battled and did a great job for a freshman pitcher and a freshman behind the plate (Gary Hatfield), as well. We just didn’t support him.”

Coach Angel also had high praise for Cover.

“We faced Seth last time we played them and only scored two in the first inning against him,” Coach Angel said. “We got to him for six (Wednesday) and they played good defense so we were just able to put the ball in play. He was very effective and efficient though. Scoring six early was big for us.”

Adam Angel IV collected three singles and a double for the Dragons, while Isaac Ball and Cole Burkett each accounted for two hits.