NITRO, W.Va. -- They had survived a wild three-game series with Huntington High, then came back and took down Hurricane in a classic pitchers' duel that will go down as one of the best punch-counterpunch battles in recent West Virginia prep baseball history.

All that was standing in Cabell Midland's way for a trip to the state tournament was mighty Nitro.

Turns out the defending state champs want another chance in Charleston's Appalachian Power Park.

Nitro ended Cabell Midland's run Wednesday evening with a 7-5 win to take Class AAA's Region IV.

The Wildcats are state-bound for the fifth consecutive season.

"They played a good game and took it to us today," said Midland coach Tracy Brumfield.

The way it all started was eerily similar to May 12, the Knights' second game in this tournament, when Midland got in a hole early only to take a deep breath, exhale, and put the hammer down in its next at-bat.

Two weeks ago, with Wednesday's starter Adam Jeffrey on the mound, the Knights trailed Huntington High 4-0 after the top of the first inning, and recovered to put across six in the bottom of that inning on their way to a 13-7 sectional win.

On Wednesday, after the Wildcats got three runs off of Jeffrey in the bottom of the first, Midland responded with a 3-spot of its own in the top of the second.

Tied game. The emotion and rowdiness was back in the Knights' dugout.

But little by little, the Wildcats began to break that momentum. They got two in their hitting half of the second and two more in the fifth.

And they did it the back-breaking way, getting a few infield singles and benefiting from a pair of huge Midland errors.

Both second inning runs were unearned.

"We were lucky that guys that hit the balls were fast runners," said Nitro coach Steve Pritchard of the small-ball success. "In other words, if it was a slower kid of something like that down the lineup, they don't have to rush as much.

"We were fortunate that the guys that were fast hit those balls so it would speed them up a little bit."

Seven runs was all the support Nitro starter Korey Dunbar needed. The junior right-hander went the full seven innings, striking out five and scattering five hits.

"It's exciting," said Dunbar who also went 1-for-3 with an RBI at the plate. "Nobody thought we would come here and beat them -- the No. 1 team in the state -- and we did it.

"Coach has been telling us that it doesn't matter what people off the field think. We control the ball and that's what we did. I have to give it up to my team."

Midland (23-5) never showed signs of quit. The three-run second was a collection of a hit batter, a bunt single, a two-run error and a Stevie Mason RBI groundout. Mason collected another RBI in the fourth with a groundout to the shortstop that brought home Trent Porter. Chris Weed scored Colton Ruley in the fifth with an RBI groundout.

The Knights' last chance was with No. 4 hitter and Tusculum College signee Phillip Mandt at the plate with none on and two outs in the top of the seventh.

With Caleb Ross, the hero from Monday's regional semifinal win over Hurricane, anxiously crouched in the on-deck circle, Mandt battled with Dunbar, fouling off three straight pitchers before going down swinging.

"(Midland is) one of the best programs in the state," Pritchard said. "Tracy does a great job. His kids play hard.

"It just ended up we scored more runs than they did tonight. ... We're not going to go up there (the state tournament at Power Park) and see a better team."

Ryan McDonough was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Nitro (20-7).

CABELL MIDLAND 030 110 0 -- 5 5 2

NITRO 320 200 X -- 7 9 1

Jeffrey, Kinker (4) and Doss. Dunbar and McDonough.

Hitting: (CM) Mason 2 RBIs; Weed RBI; Porter 2-3. (N) Ramsey 2-4; McDonough 2-3, 2 RBIs; Dunbar RBI; Brown 2B, RBI.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nitro baseball Coach Steve Pritchard sat on a folding chair just outside of the home dugout in Wednesday night's Class AAA Region 4 championship game.

With each two-strike pitch by his starter, Korey Dunbar, during the final at-bat of the game, Pritchard would stand up thinking - hoping - it was time to celebrate a fifth consecutive trip to the State Tournament.

Cabell Midland cleanup hitter Phillip Mandt fouled off not one, not two, but three two-strike pitches before Dunbar finally snuck a fastball past Mandt, who swung with all his might in the Knights' last gasp.

Pritchard and his defending state champion Wildcats could celebrate. Finally.

"They believed," Pritchard said after his Nitro team beat Cabell Midland 7-5 at Brandon Matthew Sneed Field to earn a spot in next week's State Tournament.

"This one's probably - I'm not going to say sweeter than any of them - but this one is very, very special." 

Per the season's scoreboard, Nitro had lost not once, not twice, but three times to Cabell Midland (one of those wins was forfeited). Unlike Mandt, the Wildcats got a fourth shot at redemption in the biggest game of the season to date for either team.

The Knights leaned on left-handed pitcher Adam Jeffrey, who had a blemish-free season in seven decisions and a 2.71 ERA.

So, Nitro countered with . . . it's Division I-bound starting catcher?

Dunbar is headed to play baseball on scholarship at North Carolina, but the backstop shed his catching gear Wednesday and took the mound.

He threw a complete game and retired Cabell Midland's No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters in the top of the seventh in succession to seal the game.

"I had my adrenaline going," Dunbar said of his 1-2-3 final inning. "I just threw strikes and got them out."

Pritchard said Dunbar had been used only sparingly as a pitcher this season, relegating him mostly to bullpen work to preserve his arm and keep him behind the plate, where he was needed.

"We picked Korey because we thought he gave us the best chance to win," Pritchard said. "We wanted to save him for when we needed him. This was a game we had to have our best pitcher on the mound and Korey is our best pitcher.

"When it doesn't work you look like a dummy and when it works you look pretty smart. Korey helped me look smart."

Dunbar allowed just five hits, but he hit three batters, walked two more and the Knights had to manufacture runs without the benefit of an extra-base hit.

"It wasn't enough," Cabell Midland Coach Tracy Brumfield said.

Nitro struck first in the bottom of the opening frame with three runs thanks to an RBI single from Dunbar, an RBI from designated hitter Ben Spurlock and an RBI double from third baseman Jacob Brown.

Cabell Midland (23-5) evened the score in the top of the next inning after a series of mistakes by Dunbar, who had a wild throw to first base that allowed Mandt to score and the batter, Caleb Ross, to scoot over to third.

The next pitch bounced in the dirt and past the catcher, allowing Ross to score. Trent Porter then singled and scored on a squeeze play.

In the bottom of the second, however, Nitro (18-7) took the lead for good on left fielder Tyler Godbey's bases-loaded infield single. The runner from third scored, and then another on an errant - and late - throw to first to try and get Godbey.

The Wildcats added a pair of insurance runs in the fourth when catcher Ryan McDonough smacked a 2-2 pitch down the left field line.

Dunbar took care of the rest.

"No one thought we'd come here and beat them and we did it," Dunbar said. "Coach has been telling us that it doesn't matter what people off the field think, that we control the ball and we did."

Added Pritchard: "I don't think anybody disrespected us; I think maybe they did probably look over us. We're going back to Power Park. We're very, very proud of that."