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Written by Derek Taylor
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Thursday, April 29 2010 |
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ONA, W.Va. -- Cabell Midland jumped on Nitro starting pitcher Jacob Brown for five runs and six hits in the first inning, putting the Knights well on their way to a 13-3 win in six innings over Nitro in the Mountain State Athletic Conference baseball championship Wednesday night. Midland's win ended the Wildcats' two-year reign as MSAC champion, and was the second time in as many meetings that Midland (21-6) has beaten Nitro (22-3) via the 10-run rule, by an identical score. Nitro lost its season opener at home to the Knights on March 20. Midland right fielder Caleb Ross and designated hitter Trent Porter each had 2-run singles in the first inning against Brown, who serves as the fifth or sixth starting pitcher on the Wildcats' depth chart. He was relieved by another low-ranking member of the staff, Justin Clark, in the third inning. By the end of the frame Midland had an 11-0 lead, and for the second time sent at least nine batters to the plate in a single inning. Cabell Midland Coach Tracy Brumfield said that the early offensive burst was a positive for winning pitcher Stevie Mason, but the Knights had to be careful not to get too comfortable. "It does loosen you up, but you know, when you're playing those guys with the batters they've got, I told them. 'You've got to keep swinging the bats. Do not be satisfied with what you're doing because they can come back.'" The troubling thing to Nitro Coach Steve Pritchard was that his team had no comeback in it. Nitro was held to just four hits after scoring nine or more runs in 16 of its first 23 games. "Just because J.R. (Bradley), Pick (Andrew Pickering) or Rig (Clay Riggleman) doesn't pitch doesn't mean we shouldn't come out and play hard," Pritchard said, referencing his top three starting pitchers. "We didn't play hard tonight at all. The most disappointing thing about tonight was they didn't throw their best pitching and we didn't throw our best pitching - I'm disappointed in our offense. There's no way we should only have four hits. "Instead of people being a link in a chain we just had people going up there as individuals. We knew it was going to be a high-scoring game, but we chose not to take part in it." Mason allowed just one baserunner through three innings, giving up a single to Bradley in the top of the first. He sputtered in the fourth, giving up three unearned runs after Riggleman reached on an error to open the inning. Pickering brought home Nitro's first run with an RBI single, but although the Wildcats sent nine men to the plate in the inning, they stranded the bases loaded. "We got a lot of confidence in Stevie. He threw against them at the end of last year when we played them," Brumfield said. "He's not our hardest thrower, but has a good change-up, he moves the ball in and out, up and down, so we got a lot of confidence in him." Mason improved to 6-0 with the win, and the Knights got multiple-RBI games from four different players. Ross was 2-for-3 with 4 RBI, Porter and Chris Weed each were 2-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI, and Trent Porter was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs driven in. The teams, which own the top records in Class AAA's Region 4, are scheduled to play again at Midland on Tuesday. George Washington 10, Hurricane 3 - Patriots junior pitcher Derek May threw just 21 pitches in the first three innings against an impatient Redskins batting order, and GW's defense held up as its offense teed off on Hurricane starting pitcher Noah Blackhurst in the MSAC third-place game. May, who improved to 6-0 on the season threw his third complete game, was also GW's hitting star. He was 4-for-4 with 4 RBI. All of his hits were singles. GW took a 3-0 lead into the top of the fourth and blew it open with a five-run inning that chased Blackhurst (3-1) from the mound. The loss was the Hurricane senior's first since 2008. He was 5-0 as a junior. Contact sportswriter Derek Taylor at
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or 304-348-5170. |
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Written by Gazette Sports Writers
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Thursday, April 29 2010 |
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MSAC Championship Game At Cabell Midland Nitro 000 300 - 3 3 3 Cabell Midland 515 101 - 13 12 2 Brown, Clark (3) and Dunbar; Mason, Jeffrey (6) and Doss. Top hitters - Nitro: Brown double. Midland: Porter double, 2 RBIs; Weed 2-3, double, 2 RBIs; Ross 2-3, 5 RBIs; Walker 2-3; Porter 2-4, double, 2 RBIs. G. Washington 102 502 0 - 10 9 1 Hurricane 000 102 0 - 3 8 6 May and Levitan. Blackhurst, Sowards (4), Mullins (7), and Payne, Adams (4). Top hitters - GW: Levitan double. May 3-4, 3 RBI; Chaney 2-3, double, RBI; Green double. H: Oiler double; Kmiec 2-3, HR, 3 RBI. Chas. Catholic 200 000 0 - 2 5 1 Sissonville 000 000 0 - 0 3 0 Wood and Cable. Burdette, Chevalier (7) and Derrick. Top hitters - CC: Wood 2-run HR. S: Tate 2-3. Clay County 000 061 0 - 7 9 1 Valley 000 203 3 - 8 8 2 Pritt, Thomas (6) and Alley; Ganoe, Acord (5) and Sears; Top hitters - Clay: Perdue 2-5, HR; Hamrick double; Varney HR; Lively double, RBI; Alley HR, 2 RBIs; Coleman 2-4, double, HR, 2 RBIs; Valley: C.Belmont 3-4, double, RBI; Tolley 2 RBIs; Chaffins RBI; Acord RBI; Ganoe RBI Pocahontas 100 10- 2 3 3 Bath County (Va.) 401 61- 12 7 1 Walker, Sharp (5) and Willis. Brinkley and Robertson. Top hitters - PC: Dan Richardson 1-2, RBI. BC - Eric Gentry 2-2, HR, 2 RBI; Deeds 2-3, grand slam, double, 5 RBI; Brinkley double, RBI. Parkers. South 002 100 2 - 5 6 1 Ripley 260 120 x - 11 7 1 Wiegel, Haverty (4), Fieler (6) and Enoch; B.Barnette, Casto (7) and Skaggs; Top hitters - South: Enoch 2-4, HR, double; Ripley: Shamblin double, 2 RBIs; Swisher double Huntington 300 000 0 - 3 4 0 So. Charleston 401 001 x - 6 10 3 Dempsey and Haer. Lively and Burdette. Top hitters - H: Dempsey 2-run HR. SC: Fisher 2-3; Lively 3-4, RBI; Hudson 2-4, double, 2 RBI; Wright 2-4, double, 2 RBI. St. Albans 001 042 0 - 7 11 1 Winfield 201 000 0 - 3 8 2 Bench and Hunt. Kincaid, Dillon (6) and Gunter. Top hitters - SA: McCoy 2-3; Hunt 3-4, double, 3 RBIs; Hapney 2-4. Win: Bumgarner 2-3; Wright 2-4; Lilly 2-4, double; Moore double Lincoln County 001 000 1 - 2 5 3 Spring Valley 211 031 x - 8 10 2 Parsons, A. Lucas (5), and J. Lucas. Wheeler, Picklesimer (7), and Z. Wellman, Morris. Top hitters - LC: A. Lucas solo-HR; SV: Brody 2-4, RBI; Smith double; Z. Wellman 2 RBI; Slayton 2-3, double; Frye 2 RBI; Waugh 2-3, double, triple. Poca 100 015 3 - 10 14 1 Tolsia 100 000 0 - 1 5 4 Humphrey, Moore (7), and Z. Staats, McClanahan (7). Duvall, Mosley (1), Hall (6), Picklesimer. Top hitters - Beaver 3-4, double, HR, 3 RBI; Taylor 2-4, 2 doubles, 2 RBI; McClanahan triple; Sisson 2-4, double, 2 RBI; A. Staats 2-5, RBI. T: Mosley 2-3, RBI; Nolan double. Capital 002 301 0 - 6 7 3 Riverside 103 000 1 - 5 8 1 Good and Morrison. Harrison, Hobbs (7), and Ratliff. Top hitters - C: Lewis double; Hawkins 2-3; Good 2-3. R: Hobbs double; Ratliff 3-4, 2 RBI. |
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Written by Doug Smock
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Thursday, April 29 2010 |
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ONA - Nitro has only three losses this season, but two of them have come against Cabell Midland. And both in not-so-grand style. The Knights scored five runs in the first inning Wednesday and didn't look back in the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship game, trouncing the Wildcats 13-3 in six innings. Midland (21-6) started the season in by scoring a 10-run mercy-rule win over Nitro by the identical score. The Wildcats (22-3) won the next 18 games, propelling them to the No. 1 spot in the Gazette state rankings. But on this clear, chilly night, the Knights struck for 12 hits, scoring five runs in the first and third innings. That made an easy night for starter Stevie Mason, who yielded three hits in 51/3 innings, one coming in Nitro's three-run fourth. Adam Jeffrey picked up the last two outs. Midland's Caleb Ross went 2-for-3 with five RBIs, victimizing both starter Jake Black and reliever Justin Clark with two-run singles and later ending the game with a bases-loaded walk. The first single symbolized Black's hard luck. Midland got the first-inning rally started when Nitro shortstop J.R. Bradley's throw to first pulled first baseman Clark off the bag, allowing Tyler Anderson to reach base. After a single and a strikeout, Chris Weed knocked in the first run with the first of four straight singles. Ross' single came on a full count, and he fought off a 3-2 pitch for a bloop to center. After a Lucas Doss single, Matt Walker fought off a 1-2 pitch to load the bases. That set the stage for the most solid hit of the inning, a two-out double by Matt Porter, ripped down the left-field line. That made it 5-0, with three of the runs unearned. Weed doubled in a run in the second to make it 6-0. Porter hit a two-run double in the third to send Black to first base and bring Clark to the mound, and Ross greeted Clark with his second two-run single. Midland ended that inning up leading 11-0. Nitro's three-run fourth came with the help of two errors. Clay Riggleman's high popup was dropped by second baseman Will Lester, and Riggleman scored on Andrew Pickering's single. Clark grounded in the second run and Daniel Ramsey's grounder to short was misplayed, making it 11-3. Midland scored a run without a hit to stretch it to 12-3, but failed to score a mercy-rule-inflicting run in the fifth. But a single, an error and two walks in the sixth sent Nitro into the night early, for the second time. GW 10, HURRICANE 3: Derek May pitched a complete game and knocked in three runs as George Washington topped error-prone Hurricane 10-3 in the third-place game.
The junior hit three singles and got on base one other time on an error - par for the course as the Redskins (18-8) committed six of them. Three of those came in the fourth inning, when the Patriots (19-8) scored five runs to take an 8-0 lead. Hurricane seemed to create ways to make fielding miscues. Perhaps the most painful came in that fourth inning when Kirby Patterson struck out, but the catcher dropped the ball. That wasn't the problem for the Redskins, though - the on-target throw from the catcher was dropped at first base. May struck out only two batters, but those were the last two. He had the most trouble with Sam Kmiec, who had an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run homer in the sixth. "He's 7-0, and every time Derek has the ball, we think we have a pretty good chance to win," said GW coach Chad Campbell. "He's been really hot with the bat and we moved him up to the fourth spot the last couple of nights, and he's done a good job." Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or
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Written by Gazette Sports Writers
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Wednesday, April 28 2010 |
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ONA, W.Va. - The Nitro High School baseball team's philosophy is simple. "Coach (Steve) Pritchard tells everybody they are a link in the chain and don't break the chain by going up there and trying to do more than you can," said Nitro senior J.R. Bradley, who hit a two-run homer to help the Wildcats advance to today's Mountain State Athletic Conference championship game with a 9-5 victory over Hurricane (18-7) in the semifinals at Cabell Midland on Tuesday. "Guys are staying within themselves and putting the ball in play." Bradley's ninth home run of the season - a shot over the right field fence - was the most dramatic hit of the night for the 2008 Class AAA state champions and 2009 runners-up. However, it was the bread-and-butter contributions of starting pitcher Clay Riggleman, catcher Korey Dunbar, first baseman Justin Clark and left fielder Gus Darby that provided the impetus for Nitro's 22nd victory in 24 games and sent the Wildcats (22-2) into today's 7:30 p.m. MSAC championship game against Cabell Midland, a 4-1 winner over George Washington. Riggleman, a senior, outdueled fellow left-hander Sam Kmiec by striking out seven batters and walking only one. As the team's No. 7 batter, he was 3-for-3 with two RBI, knocking in runs in the second and third innings as Nitro built a 5-1 lead after three innings. "I had pretty good command sometimes," said the 5-foot-9, 135-pound Riggleman, who ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth innings, but managed to battle his way out. "I let a couple pitches get away from me." Clark had a single and an RBI and his sacrifice bunt in the second inning led to Nitro's first run. Dunbar had singles in the second and third innings and a double in the sixth and Darby added two hits, knocking in Nitro's second run. They took advantage of the inconsistency of Kmiec and the Hurricane defense. In these teams' first meeting of the season, Nitro earned a 10-5 victory and the Redskins had seven errors. This time, Hurricane had five, which included three in the inning after it had tied the score. Hurricane Coach Brian Sutphin said his team wasn't aggressive enough defensively on Cabell Midland's slow infield, which had been covered by tarp for back-to-back days. "You're either aggressive and make the play, or you're passive," Sutphin said. "We've been playing pretty good baseball lately, but today we didn't come to play." Hurricane scored three runs in the fourth on consecutive singles by Tyler Payne, Kmiec and Josh Falbo and a groundout by Drew Lawrence. A run-scoring single by Kmiec in the fifth tied the score, but Riggleman retired six of the last seven batters to seal the win. |
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