RONDA — The Mount Airy Granite Bears baseball team was down 8-0 in the top of the fifth inning to West Wilkes in the second semifinal matchup of the Northwest 1A Conference tournament at East Wilkes in a game not reported before press time.

Mount Airy sent Kendall Cawley to the mound against the Blackhawks, who entered the tournament tied for first place with Bishop McGuinness.

The Bears, who hovered around the top of the conference throughout the regular season, were in a tie for third place with rival East Surry as of Saturday’s semifinals.

With East Surry defeating Bishop in the 5 p.m. game, the Bears were in need of a win to continue the third place tie and a higher state playoff seed.

West was up 2-0 in the bottom of the second behind a first inning homerun from Blackhawks slugger Josh Zumbrook.

The Blackhawks had the bases load with two outs when Cawley pushed a West batter to a full count.

The Bears hurler came through with a big strike out on the payoff pitch to get coach Mack Hodges’ team out of a tight jam.

The Blackhawks are known for their offensive firepower and it showed Saturday, with West adding another homerun on top of Zumbrook’s blast.

The Bears reached the semifinals by defeating North Stokes at home on Thursday, 5-2.