PRINCETON, W.Va. — PikeView advanced to its first state baseball state tournament a year ago, finally breaking through with a 3-2 regional final win over Independence.
The Panthers returned all but one starter from that 2015 team, setting the stage for another potential deep postseason run.
“This group has been cohesive and together since they were in middle school and even before that,” said PikeView coach Josh Wyatt. “They had the chance to get to Charleston as 9th and 10th graders, but came up one run short each time. We knew we had the ability to get to that level and we were able to breakthrough with that regional championship win last year and we’re working towards that again.”
The Panthers fell in the semifinals last year to eventual champion Bridgeport, 17-7, in six innings. It was a tied game, however, 7-7, after four innings before the Indians erupted for four runs in the fifth and six runs in the sixth.
“We’ve watched that game many times and we saw where things went wrong,” Wyatt said. “Once they started going wrong, they went heavily wrong. We had several errors in that game and things went south for us in a hurry. We understand from that experience that we have to hold our composure, keep things together and keep making plays.”
PikeView began the year as preseason No. 2 in the Class AA MetroNews baseball poll, entered this week at No. 5 and posted a 14-3 record going into Friday. One of those three losses came to No. 1 Bridgeport, 7-5.
Senior left fielder Keian Lee has led the Panthers at the plate this season, posting a .480 batting average, while Jon Clark and Seth Meadows have both been productive driving in runs at the 3 and 4 spots in the lineup.
On the mound, returning senior ace Levi Nash entered the week with a 4-1 record and 1.40 ERA, picking up a win over AAA No. 5 Greenbrier East earlier this month.
Senior Michael Rotenberry, a transfer from Princeton, has been dominant on the mound as well with a 5-0 record and 0.48 ERA entering the week.
“He’s a horse for us and throws just as hard, if not harder, than Levi (Nash),” Wyatt said of Rotenberry. “He has great command of his curveball and changeup. He hasn’t had a game yet where he has given up more than one run. He’s a guy who gives us a 1-2 punch with him and Levi on the mound. Hopefully, if we get back to that point, we’ll have something new to bring to the table.”
The Panthers will enter Region 3 sectional play with Bluefield and James Monroe. PikeView is 2-1 against Bluefield on the season and 1-0 against James Monroe so far.
“Bluefield is a scrappy team and James Monroe is still growing a little bit,” Wyatt said. “It’ll be another battle to get our of our section.”
Independence, a potential regional final opponent, is the only other ranked team out of Region 3 as the Patriots entered the week 16-1, ranked No. 2.
And with just over a week to go until postseason play opens up, Wyatt is hoping the Panthers are picking up even more momentum at just the right time.
“Moving forward, we have to change our approach with runners in scoring position,” Wyatt said. “We’re trying to do a little too much and leaving a lot of runners on. But by getting to the state tournament last year, we’ve been able to put a lot of competition on our schedule.
“A lot of teams up north picked us up and we’ve been able to see some of those teams earlier in the season,” he continued. “Hopefully, if we get back to Charleston this year, we will be a little bit more prepared mentally and we’ll see if we can make another run at it.”