CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Bridgeport completed the two-year sweep of Class AA football and baseball championships with a business-like 5-0 win over Chapmanville on Saturday from Appalachian Power Park.
Junior pitcher Jared Cleghorn, a JV player last year, threw a complete-game two-hitter as Bridgeport (37-3) capped a brilliant season.
“Everything was working good for me today,” Cleghorn said. “We had a lot of motivation to get back here and win it again. I came out and was focused an threw my game.”
Cleghorn (8-0), who learned only Saturday morning that he would be starting, struck out five, walked two and didn’t allow a runner past first.
“He was on target today and very focused,” said Bridgeport coach Robert Shields.
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Bridgeport became the first Class AA program to win back-to-back baseball titles since Winfield in 2001 and 2002.
“It means a lot,” Shields said. “In 1992, 1993 and 1994, we were here all in a row and those were very, very good ball players. We didn’t get the opportunity to win back-to-back titles then. But I’m so proud of this group and these young men. To win 37 of 40 ballgames is just a great job.”
The Indians took control of the championship from the start, jumping on Chapmanville (30-6) pitcher Trey Dalton for two runs in the first inning. Houston Morris delivered an RBI single before Hunter Fain’s infield hit led to a throwing error and a second run.
“We needed to jump on them early – that was very important,” Shields said. “I thought we might have been a little nervous because we hadn’t practiced against a lefty for a while.”
“I don’t think they got a clean hit in the first inning,” said Chapmanville coach Eric Ellis. “We hit a guy and we booted a ball. The things you can’t do again them we came out and did against them early. They’re too good to fall behind against. They’re a complete baseball team.”
The Indians pushed their lead out to 4-0 with an RBI double from Joe LaRocca and another RBI single from Morris. Bridgeport’s final run came in the sixth on an Elijah Drummond double.
“You have to have the right breaks,” Shields said. “This is a credit to our seniors, they did a great job. We can look back on this 20 years from now – we have a lot of happy kids.”
Bridgeport set a school record for wins.
“To win 37 games in high school baseball is unfathomable, it really is,” Shields said. “That’s a lot of ballgames and we played a lot in a short period of time. We would play eight or nine in a week. But we have the pitchers to do it.”
LaRocca finished 2-for-3, while Morris finished with those two RBIs on two hits.
Chris Bailey and Tyler Neil collected the two hits for Chapmanville.
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