CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Nitro clinched its return to the Class AAA baseball state championship by beating Ripley 3-0 Friday night from a packed Appalachian Power Park.
“Ripley is an unbelievable team,” said Nitro coach Joe Gayda. “We squeaked out of some (situations tonight), for sure. We have preached mental toughness from day one and that’s what we had.”
Jacob Bradley pitched a shutout for the Wildcats, giving up four hits, striking out seven and walking two. Nitro (24-10) left nine runners on base, while Ripley (24-12) stranded seven.
“It wasn’t an easy shutout,” Bradley said. “They have great hitters and they have great base runners. They’re a well-coached team and that’s what happens when you face teams like that – they’re always going to be in position to score and I got out of them today.
“I came out early and had good fastball command,” Bradley continued. “Anytime you have command of your fastball, everything else falls into play. I had my curveball over for strikes and buried it when I needed to.”
After five scoreless innings, Nitro tallied its first runs on a two-RBI double to left from second baseman Jason Douglas.
“(Coach) Sneed tells me to get a half-inch above the ball and that’s what I did,” Douglas said. “We’ve been battling all year and this was a dogfight. We hit some balls tonight that I thought were going to be good hits, but they ended up being pop-ups. It’s a big ballpark.”
On the following at-bat, Jared Hill did hit a routine pop-up to short, but it was dropped and Douglas scored on the error, giving Nitro the 3-0 advantage.
Despite hitting out of the 9-hole, Douglas entered Friday hitting .346 on the season.
“He’s been batting ninth all year, but he’s the best No. 9 hitter I’ve ever had on a team,” Bradley said. “I knew he would come through. He could hit in the top of the lineup for us. I had faith in him.”
Ripley’s best chance came in the fifth with runners on first and third with one out, but the Vikings’ Anthony Jarvis hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
“We made a couple of mistakes and they were able to capitalize on it,” said Ripley coach Shane Casto. “Nitro didn’t make many mistakes tonight. Bradley did a great job of locating his fastball, mixing in his curveball and keeping us off-balance. Hats off to them.”
Ripley starter Chris Jordan was the tough-luck loser on the mound, going six innings and giving up three runs (two earned), while walking five.
The win for Nitro sets up a rematch of last year’s AAA title game where Jefferson edged the Wildcats 2-1.
“Last year was always, ‘we’ll get them next year,’” Bradley said. “Well, now we don’t have another year to get them. We’re back in it and this will be our last game ever for Nitro – it means a whole lot more.”
Saturday’s final will be the third of the three state title games with first pitch at approximately 4 p.m.