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Class AA: New blood looks to challenge Bridgeport’s title streak

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A look at how the Class AA high school baseball state tournament matchups set up from Charleston:

Braxton County (22-10) vs. Bridgeport (28-6), 4:30 p.m. Thursday

Bridgeport LogoBridgeport is gunning for a third straight baseball title as the Indians have made the state tournament in 17 of head coach Bob Shields’ 30 seasons.

Bridgeport has become well-versed in being the title favorite, playing with a confidence that helped erase a 6-5 seventh-inning deficit to Grafton in the regional semifinals.

“The kids have had great work ethic and picked up where they left off from before,” Shields said. “They know that they have a big target on their backs and they want to continue the success that we have had in the past.”

The Indians lost nine seniors from last year’s title team and had to deal with season-ending injuries to their top two returning pitchers in Logan Smith and Jared Cleghorn who started in the past two state championship games.

“Our pitching staff coming together is the thing I’m most proud of this year,” Shields said. “I knew we had work to do, but that’s a credit to the kids and our leaders to fill the gaps. We knew our defense would be solid, we just had to get out other guys accustomed to being in bigger roles on the mound.”

Hunter Haddix has logged the most innings for Bridgeport on the mound, entering Thursday with a 5-2 record and 2.26 ERA. Gordon Swiger (6-0, 1.65 ERA), Brine Takahashi (7-1, 2.45 ERA) and Tanner Furbee (2-0, 0.53 ERA) have all be strong as well.

Bridgeport scored five runs in the seventh inning for a comeback win over Grafton.
Bridgeport scored five runs in the seventh inning for a comeback win over Grafton in the regional semifinals.

At the plate, Drew Hefner leads the Indians with a .421 average. Koby Kiefer (.387), Swiger (.383), Elijah Drummond (.376, 35 RBIs, J.T. Harris (.373), Dante Bonamico (.366, 34 runs), Furbee (.364), Ross Marra (.305) and Joe Dodrill (.300, 40 runs) are all at or above .300 on the year.

“This team has a lot of good contact hitters, but not the power that we had last year,” Shields said. “These kids have done a great job of filling their roles. I’m proud of them and it has been a work in progress with doing the little things every day.”

Braxton County is back to the state tournament for the first time since 2011.

Braxton Logo 2“We’re a good blend and we have a lot of juniors who all contribute,” said second-year head coach Jacob Wolfe. “We have three seniors who play on a daily basis. We’re still a good, young team and we’ve grown a lot this year.”

Junior left-hander Seth Backus has been the ace for Braxton County on the mound – he got the call in a tight, 2-1 regional semifinal win over Fairmont Senior.

Ravenswood erases a 3-0 deficit to beat Braxton County 4-3 in dramatic fashion.
Braxton County is in the state tournament for the first time since 2011.

“He pitched a gem,” Wolfe said of the regional effort. “He locates, mixes in some junk and can throw the fastball whenever he wants. His best aspect is how he locates his pitches. He’ll make them hit and our defense is our bread and butter.”

Senior shortstop Brent McMillion has also been solid on the mound for the Eagles and leads Braxton County at the plate.

Braxton County has one baseball state championship as the Eagles finished a 24-6 season in 2010 with the Class AA title.

“A lot of my kids are familiar with that run,” Wolfe said. “Some of the kids who were a part of that team are still around in the community and they’ve talked to our guys a lot about what to expect. It’s been a good community environment.”

 

PikeView (22-3-1) vs. Wayne (23-10-1), approximately 7:30 p.m Thursday

PikeView 5PikeView made its baseball state tournament debut a season ago, but ran into a deep Bridgeport team that pulled away for a 17-7 semifinal win.

A year later, it’s a much more experienced and confident PikeView team entering Class AA state semifinal action.

“Getting to the state tournament last year and being able to be in that environment against Bridgeport, we were humbled and a little bit embarrassed too,” said PikeView coach Josh Wyatt. “We were hungry to get a second opportunity. Our boys have done a great job of executing all year.”

The Panthers have five players hitting above .500 on the year in Keian Lee (.467, 32 RBIs, 40 runs), Carter Shrewsbury (.439, 21 RBIs, 40 runs), Jon Clark (.419, 39 RBIs, 31 runs), Ben Boggess (.425) and Seth Meadows (.403, 21 RBIs, 25 runs).

On the mound, Michael Rotenberry (who transferred in this year from Princeton) has led the Panthers with an 8-0 record and 0.48 ERA. Levi Nash is also 7-1 with a 1.16 ERA.

“Levi is the type of kid who has a college-ready curveball,” Wyatt said. “The two are comparable in velocity, but Michael (Rotenberry) throws a little bit harder and locates fastballs a little bit better.”

Levi Nash entered the week with a 4-1 record and 1.40 ERA.
Levi Nash threw in last year’s state tournament appearance for the Panthers.

PikeView has been on a mission all year to bring the school its first baseball title.

“That has been the goal since day one,” Wyatt said. “This group is very goal-oriented, but they’re mature enough and old enough to understand that it is one game at a time. This team is built on pitching and defense. If we can keep doing those things, we’ll put ourselves into a great chance to accomplish that goal.”

Wayne, meanwhile, is in the state tournament for the first time since 2002.

WAYNE LOGOWayne advanced into regional play a year ago, starting five sophomores and four freshmen. That group returned this season with anticipation of making an even deeper run.

“We had those high expectations with everyone back,” said Wayne coach Todd Ross. “We still felt like we could be a year away, but we didn’t want to wait. We wanted to take advantage of the moment. We had some bumps along the road, but we’ve had a real good year.”

Dakota McCloud leads Wayne on the mound this year, posting a 9-1 record and 1.20 ERA, adding 82 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings.

“He’s very efficient and doesn’t have a lot of wasted movement,” Ross said. “He can go deep into the game for us because he doesn’t get worn out too quickly.”

The coach’s son, Cayden Ross, leads the Pioneers with a .479 average, 37 RBIs and 27 runs. Cody Noe (.462), Brad Sharp (.404), Zack Perry (.400), Isaiah Thompson (.380), Jeremiah Milum (.340), Luke Cassidy (.326) and McCloud (.315) have all been above .300 on the year as well.

Center fielder Cody Stiltner has 33 runs out of the lead-off spot. The senior has battled to get back on the field after dislocating his hip during the football season.

“He’s our spark-plug and is trouble on the bases,” Ross said. “He was in a wheelchair for three months and wasn’t sure on whether he was going to be able to walk again.

“They told him in the beginning that he might not be able to play competitive sports again,” Ross said. “But he came to me at the beginning of the season and said that he wanted to give it a try. He’s almost back to 100 percent.”

The Pioneers have four previous baseball titles, picking up championships in 1984, 1992, 1994 and 1995.

VIDEO: All baseball state tournament games will be streamed live at the MetroNews Channel of WVMetroNews.com or catch radio broadcasts on stations across West Virginia.





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