TEAM RECORDS

Pos-Team W-L-T Pct.

1. Nitro 28-4-0 .875

2. Hurricane 24-9-0 .727

3. Charleston Catholic 23-11-0 .677

3. George Washington 23-11-0 .677

3. Sissonville 23-11-0 .677

6. Buffalo 21-11-0 .656

6. Herbert Hoover 21-11-0 .656

8. South Charleston 20-11-0 .645

9. St. Albans 20-12-0 .625

10. Capital 17-14-0 .548

11. Poca 13-15-1 .466

12. Winfield 15-19-0 .441

13. Riverside 12-19-0 .387

HITTING

BATTING AVERAGE

(Minimum of 24 hits)

Player, School AB H Avg.

Noah Blackhurst, Hur. 106 62 .585

Jason Lewis, Buffalo 61 33 .540

J.R. Bradley, Nitro 101 52 .515

Steven Lewis, Capital 85 43 .506

Tyler Godbey. Nitro 97 47 .485

Jamie Hurd, Hoover 108 52 .481

Patrick Ryan, HH 107 51 .477

J.C. Morrison, Cap. 82 39 .476

Tyler Payne, Hurr. 102 48 .471

Bo McKown, Catholic 119 56 .470

Pat Lively, S. Chas. 96 45 .468

Sam Wood, Catholic 84 39 .464

David Beaver, Poca 89 41 .460

Andrew Pickering, Nit. 88 40 .455

Sammy McCoy, SA 82 37 .451

Josh Hudson, SC 98 44 .448

Zach Cloxton, Nitro 106 47 .443

Korey Dunbar, Nitro 95 42 .442

Chris Knapp, River. 104 45 .433

Alex Levitan, GW 114 49 .430

Darryl Deliere, HH 103 44 .427

Cody Hobbs, River. 97 41 .423

Alex Bobinger, CC 83 35 .422

Eric Stone, Capital 90 38 .422

Tyler Ratliff, River. 95 39 .411

Clay Riggleman, Nit. 83 34 .410

Jared Tucker, Buffalo 78 32 .410

Kirby Patterson, GW 104 42 .404

Brody Prudnick, CC 82 33 .402

Josh Clark, Winfield 109 43 .394

Cody Ballard, Capital 100 39 .390

Andy Hapney, SA 96 37 .385

Derek May, GW 86 33 .384

Josh Burdette, SC 99 38 .383

Tyler Burdette, Siss. 97 37 .381

Regan Patton, GW 108 41 .380

Tyler Fisher, S. Chas. 77 29 .376

Geovany Miranda, Cap. 85 32 .376

Cory Bird, Hoover 96 36 .375

Derek Ryder, Hoover 91 34 .374

Nelson McKown, CC 91 34 .373

Barrett Arnold, Winf. 100 37 .370

Patrick Huxley, CC 84 31 .369

Evan Woods, Capital 85 31 .365

Nick Harrison, River. 86 31 .360

Kenny Harper, Siss. 106 38 .358

Derek Tate, Sisson. 107 38 .355

Dylan Ramsey, SA 103 36 .350

HOME RUNS

12 - J.R. Bradley, Nitro; 8 - Jason Lewis, Buffalo; 7 - Sam Wood, Catholic; Wade Walters, St. Albans; 6 - Patrick Ryan, Hoover; 5 - Noah Blackhurst, Hurricane; Josh Hudson, SC; Jamie Hurd, Hoover; Sam Kmiec, Hurricane; Kirby Patterson, GW; 4 - Josh Clark, Winfield; Zach Cloxton, Nitro; Brandon Davis, Hoover; Korey Dunbar, Nitro; Geovany Miranda, Capital; Sammy McCoy, St. Albans; Tyler Payne, Hurricane; Regan Patton, GW; Gabe White, Hoover

RUNS BATTED IN

55 - Jason Lewis, Buffalo; 51 - J.R. Bradley, Nitro; 49 - Patrick Ryan, Hoover; 46 - Sam Kmiec, Hurricane; 43 - Wade Walters, St. Albans; 41 - Noah Blackhurst, Hurricane; 40 - Sam Wood, Catholic; 39 - Kirby Patterson, GW; 37 - Patrick Huxley, Catholic; 36 - Tyler Payne, Hurricane; 35 - Korey Dunbar, Nitro; Josh Hudson, SC; 34 - Sammy McCoy, St. Albans; 33 - Jamie Hurd, Hoover; Regan Patton, GW; 31 - Josh Clark, Winfield; Clay Riggleman, Nitro; 30 - Cody Ballard, Capital; Zach Cloxton, Nitro; Brandon Davis, Hoover; Pat Lively, SC; Nelson McKown, Catholic; Geovany Miranda, Capital; Andrew Pickering, Nitro; Eric Stone, Capital

STOLEN BASES

46 - Bo McKown, Catholic; 43 - Tyler Burdette, Sissonville; 31 - Jason Lewis, Buffalo; 30 - J.C. Morrison, Capital; 28 - Evan Woods, Capital; 24 - Steven Lewis, Capital; 23 - Kenny Harper, Sissonville; 22 - Zach Cloxton, Nitro; 19 - Clay Riggleman, Nitro; 18 - Brad Carpenter, Sissonville; 17 - Taylor Farris, Catholic; Tyler Godbey, Nitro; 16 - Barrett Arnold, Winfield; 15 - Colin Davis, Hurricane; Alex Levitan, GW; Patrick Ryan, Hoover; 14 - Derek Tate, Sissonville

PITCHING

WINS

10-5 - Jameson Landers, Sissonville; 9-0 - J.R. Bradley, Nitro; 8-0 - Derek May, GW; Andrew Pickering, Nitro; 8-3 - Jason Lewis, Buffalo; 7-1 - Kyle Huffman, GW; Patrick Ryan, Hoover; 7-3 - Cody Ballard, Capital; 6-1 - Clay Riggleman, Nitro; Sam Wood, Catholic; 6-2 - Thad Carpenter, Capital; Patrick Huxley, Catholic; Pat Lively, SC; 6-3 - Sam Kmiec, Hurricane; 6-6 - Andy Hapney, St. Albans; 6-7 - Joe Mounts, GW; 5-1 - Calvin Bench, St. Albans; 5-3 - Chad Wright, Winfield

STRIKEOUTS

130 - Jason Lewis, Buffalo (622/3 IP); 114 - Patrick Ryan, Hoover (59 IP); 98 - Jameson Landers, Sissonville (931/3 IP); 84 - Jamie Hurd, Hoover (642/33 IP); 78 - Sam Wood, Catholic (53 IP); 77 - J.R. Bradley, Nitro (51 IP); 67 - Sam Kmiec, Hurricane (52 IP); Clay Riggleman, Nitro (491/3 IP); 64 - Andrew Pickering, Nitro (451/3 IP); 62 - Taylor Humphrey, Poca (481/3 IP); Joe Mounts, GW (631/3 IP); 59 - Pat Lively, SC (561/3 IP); 58 - Derek May, GW (661/3 IP); 56 - Cody Ballard, Capital (602/3 IP); 55 - Thad Carpenter, Capital (591/3 IP); 54 - Josh Hudson, SC (582/3 IP); 53 - Greg Wright, SC (441/3 IP)

EARNED RUN AVERAGE

(Minimum of 28 innings pitched)

0.69 - J.R. Bradley, Nitro (51 IP); 0.84 - Jason Lewis, Buffalo (622/3 IP); 0.92 - Sam Wood, Catholic (53 IP); 1.56 - Clay Riggleman, Nitro (491/3 IP); 1.70 - Andrew Pickering, Nitro (451/3 IP); 1.94 - Tyler Burdette, Sissonville (431/3 IP); 2.02 - Sam Kmiec, Hurricane (52 IP); 2.09 - Jameson Landers, Sissonville (931/3 IP); 2.14 - Alex Bobinger, Catholic (322/3 IP); Drew Lawrence, Hurricane (36 IP); 2.43 - Joe Mounts, GW (631/3 IP); 2.97 - Cody Ballard, Capital (602/3 IP); 2.98 - Ryan Baldwin, Sissonville (47 IP); 2.99 - Thad Carpenter, Capital (591/3 IP)

NOTE: Includes only players from Kanawha and Putnam counties. Figures provided by schools. Includes all games. Does not include complete report from St. Albans.

NITRO, W.Va. - Nitro High School senior Andrew Pickering had been out of the limelight for much of the Wildcats' baseball season, but the all-state pitcher/infielder couldn't avoid it Thursday.

His teammates should be glad for that. Pickering, making his first pitching appearance against an in-state opponent since April 23, overcame a rough first four innings to go the distance, hit a two-run homer to give Nitro its first lead then scored the game winner in the bottom of the seventh, leading the Wildcats to a series-clinching 9-8 win over St. Albans in the Class AAA Region 4 Section 1 tournament at Sneed Field.

"He told me he wasn't even going to pitch me this game but I told him I wanted the ball," Pickering said, referring to Nitro Coach Steve Pritchard's initial plan to start senior Clay Riggleman against the Red Dragons. "Then after I got in trouble he told me not to give up, and I didn't give up. I just kept trying my hardest."

St. Albans (20-12) scored two runs in the second, third and fourth innings off Pickering, who still was struggling to throw his curveball for a strike after suffering a wrist injury against Bridgeport last month.

By the time Nitro (27-4) got on the board, SA had a 6-0 lead.

"The big thing was he couldn't get anything over but his fastball," Pritchard said. "At this point in the season pretty much any good hitter's going to hit a fastball. So me and him went back into the dugout, had a good discussion, and he came back out.

"The thing we said coming into the tournament we said we had to make them hit to score their runs, and if you look at their innings we've got a walk, hit batsman, an error, stuff like that."

It was a bang-bang play that set the stage for what proved to be the game-changing at-bat for Nitro. With one out in the top of the fourth St. Albans junior Josh Kiser drove a Pickering pitch to left field, scoring Donovan Goodwin to make it 6-0. However, the throw from Nitro left-fielder Daniel Ramsey was on the money to home plate, catching SA's Dylan Ramsey in a rundown that resulted in the second out. Meanwhile, Kiser broke for second, where Nitro catcher Korey Dunbar's throw was just as accurate as the one he'd just taken, doubling up Kiser and getting Pickering out of the inning.

"That definitely gave us a bunch of momentum for the next inning," Pickering said. "We came in and brought out the bats the next inning."

What followed was an eight-run, seven-hit barrage that saw Riggleman smack a three-run homer to get Nitro on the board, J.R. Bradley hit a run-scoring double and Pickering follow by going long to put Nitro up 8-6. It was Riggleman's first homer of the season, while Pickering hit his third.

"We told the kids we needed to win every inning," St. Albans Coach Rick Whitman said. "We won all of them but one, but we lost that one by a lot."

SA tied the game again in the seventh, when Pickering's wildness returned and a Justin Hunt double and a groundout by losing pitcher Andy Hapney put the hosts in position to either score in their half of the seventh or go to extra innings, likely with a reliever.

It wasn't necessary. Pickering reached with a one-out walk and reached third on an infield single by Dunbar and a grounder by John Entenmann that was too sharp for Kiser to handle at third base. Riggleman was next, and sent a fly ball to the left-field wall, allowing Pickering to walk home and into the regionals.

The Wildcats pounded out 14 hits against the curveball-friendly Hapney. Six players in the Nitro starting lineup had at least two hits. Hunt was 3-for-4 for St. Albans with a double and three RBI.

Nitro's win brought the sectional to a two-game finish for the first time since 2003. The Wildcats will play the winner of Region 4, Section 2 (featuring Parkersburg and Ripley in its final) on the road the week of May 24-29.

Contact sportswriter Derek Taylor at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 304-348-5170.