CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Over the last 12 months, Wahama’s baseball team was often reminded of how it came up just short in last year’s Class A title game, falling to Charleston Catholic by one run and squandering a late lead in the process.
The White Falcons used the result to provide more motivation for a 2023 season with heightened expectations.
“We used it the entire season,” said junior Bryce Zuspan.
After exacting a measure of revenge Thursday by edging the Irish in a semifinal that lasted 11 innings, Wahama exorcised the demons from last year’s final Saturday in a repeat title game appearance against top seed Tyler Consolidated.
The No. 3 White Falcons turned a scoreless contest through three innings into a runaway victory, breaking loose for four runs in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth, which was more than enough offense to back Zuspan’s flawless pitching performance in a 10-0 six-inning win over the Silver Knights.
“That’s a good baseball team over there, but being here before paid off, and I knew once we scored some runs that would help our pitching as well, because when you start running out of outs the pressure goes up,” Wahama head coach Billy Zuspan said. “If anybody knows how hard that last out is to get, it’s us. We walked out of this stadium a year ago losing about the worst way. Comeback kids right there. They battled with grit all season.”
Wahama (27-10) claimed its fifth baseball championship and wrapped up a memorable 10-day stretch for the school’s athletics after the White Falcons softball team won the Class A championship for the third straight season last week.
Wahama also became the first school to sweep softball and baseball championships since Hurricane in 2018 and the first in Class A since Wheeling Central in 2007.
Zuspan and the Silver Knights’ Jayden Helmick each threw three scoreless frames to start. The White Falcons’ best opportunity to score was with runners at the corners in the first inning, before Helmick induced a ground ball back his way off the bat of Hayden Lloyd for the final out. Tyler Consolidated (32-7) was without a hit until Mason Nichols’ one-out single in the third. It was followed by a diving catch from Lloyd in left field that took away extra bases from Helmick and the game’s first run.
Wahama then gained the lead in the fourth courtesy of an Eli Rickard single that brought home Logan Roach, who had led off with a double.
“When you’re on a stage like this, whoever can break the ice first does have the upper hand, but the way these guys have come back in games, battled and won 32 games, I felt like we’re never out of it,” Silver Knights’ head coach Rob Jones said. ”I still can’t believe we’re out of this one.”
Although the White Falcons stranded two runners in that frame, Zuspan retired the Silver Knights in order in the home half of the fourth, setting the stage for Wahama to seize complete control in the fifth.
Helmick retired the first two batters of the inning, before six straight Wahama batters reached base.
That stretch began with Nathan Manuel’s single and Roach followed with a double. Ethan Gray’s infield single scored Manuel, and Lloyd then worked a base-on-balls to load the bases.
Another single to short from Rickard upped the Wahama lead to 3-0 and Trey Ohlinger followed with a solid single to left that drove in a pair and left TCHS facing a five-run deficit.
Helmick was replaced by Reese Davis, who surrounded a single to Zuspan that led to the final out of the inning on a play at the plate.
If the Silver Knights had thoughts of carrying over momentum from a strong defensive play, they were quickly erased as Zuspan induced fly ball outs on the first two batters in the home half of the fifth, and then retired Zade Billings on a ground ball to third with a pair of runners aboard.
“I’ve seen him pitch some really good games throughout his career and this was one of the most exciting,” coach Zuspan said. “I’m really proud of him. He did a great job.”
Wahama ran away in the sixth after loading the bases with one out courtesy of three walks. Gray followed with a two-run single, and after Lloyd was hit by a pitch, Rickard worked a base-on-balls that brought in the eighth run.
Ohlinger followed with a sacrifice fly and Zuspan drove in a run with a single to make it a 10-run margin.
“Great defense behind our pitching and we had a ton of hits,” coach Zuspan said. “We hit the ball well all day.”
Zuspan allowed a leadoff double to Ethan Clark in the seventh, but retired the next three batters to keep his shutout intact — including a sliding catch from Lloyd in left on a ball hit by Gorby for the game’s final out. That continued a trend of stellar defense from the White Falcons, particularly in the outfield, at the state tournament.
When the two teams met earlier this season during a doubleheader April 23, Tyler won both contests by a combined score of 16-5.
“We were very familiar with Wahama as they are with us,” Jones said. “Their catcher was out of the doubleheader and we knew that which shifted around some of their other defense. They’ve been one of the best defenses in the state all year and Zuspan has been raised around the game. He battled today and we weren’t able to come up with big hits. We were getting underneath the ball and couldn’t get enough runners on to play our game, move guys around and bunt the ball.”
Helmick struck out nine, but allowed five runs on nine hits in defeat over 4 2/3 innings.
Five Wahama players had multiple hits as the White Falcons finished with 12. Gray led the way with three, while Roach, Rickard, Ohlinger and Zuspan had two apiece.
Zuspan surrendered four hits, walked a pair and struck out six in the most memorable performance of his successful career to this point.
“After maybe the third inning, I started getting my footing a little bit more,” Zuspan said. “I was throwing a little bit harder and finding the umpires’ strike zone. My catcher was also framing it for me and that’s when I found it.”