WESTON, W.Va. — Buckhannon-Upshur’s Jerin Westfall lives with symbrachydactyly, a condition that leaves him without a normal sized finger on his left hand.
Yet as Westfall showed Wednesday night at Lewis County, he’s plenty capable of making others notice his right hand.
The junior was in command on the mound throughout a strong outing that included 10 strikeouts and one run allowed over 5 1/3 innings as he keyed the Buccaneers to a 7-3 victory over the Minutemen on a chilly evening.
“All my life, I’ve been told that I’m unique,” Westfall said. “I’ve been working with it and when I was younger, they tried to change the way I throw and stuff, but it ended up being whatever I feel comfortable with, so that’s what I’ve stuck with and it’s turned out well for me.”
A solo home run to left field off the bat of Landon Marple in the top of the first inning helped ensure every pitch Westfall threw against the Minutemen (1-7) was with a lead.
Still, the first two LCHS batters reached on an error and walk, and the Minutemen had two in scoring position with one out, before Westfall struck out cleanup hitter Levi Boram and Andrew Nesbitt to keep his team on top.
Drahden Rice’s run-scoring single in the second doubled the B-U (5-5) lead, and it became 4-0 shortly after when Brody McDaniels reached on an error that allowed Rice and Luke Kesling to score.
Westfall went on to strikeout the side in the second as well as the first two batters he faced in the third, making it seven consecutive strikeouts.
“I treat him like anyone else and that’s what he wants,” Bucs’ head coach Adam Squires said. “He doesn’t want to be babied or coddled at all. Hats off to him for pushing through. He’ll go slow and deliberate, and then the next thing you know, he’s on you in a hurry. His pace as a pitcher can be problematic for hitters. When he’s on, he’s tough to beat. This was probably the best he’s thrown in high school.”
The Minutemen did produce their first run in the third courtesy of a Boram single that brought Joel Good home, allowing the home team to trail 4-1.
B-U got that run back in the fourth when McDaniels doubled to center, allowing Westfall to score after he’d reached on a base-on-balls to start the inning.
Westfall recorded two more strikeouts while retiring LCHS in order in the fourth, and he overcame issuing a leadoff walk to James Young in the fifth to keep his team in front by four runs.
The Bucs scored twice more in the sixth, which began with Rice being hit by a pitch and was followed by Marple’s double.
“We’re in a process mentality right now. The scoreboard is a monster sometimes and hits and runs can get too clouded in the mind,” Lewis County head coach Tyler Wood said. “On the mound, we’re looking for first-pitch strikes, strikes on two of the first three pitches and what’s your putaway rate. For hitters, we’re trying to teach quality at bats, working counts and six-plus pitches. If you can get to two strikes and still get three more, that’s a good at bat. We’re just focused on the process and the results will come.”
After inducing a groundout to second base to start the bottom of the sixth, Westfall was replaced on the mound by teammate Weldon Zirkle.
Zirkle surrendered two runs in the sixth when Andrew Lybarger singled to center to score Andrew Nesbitt, while an error on the play allowed Luke Clem to come home from first.
The Minutemen got a leadoff single from Garrett Moats in the seventh, and when Ryder Aman drew a walk, Lewis County had the tying run on deck.
But Zirkle hung tough and recorded the final two outs by way of fly ball to finish off the rivalry win for B-U.
Westfall surrendered only one hit and issued three walks.
“Lately, my off-speed hasn’t been the best, but today it was working really well,” he said. “My curve ball was in the zone and my fastball was working well inside and out. I felt unstoppable out there and that felt great.”
Aman, the lone senior on a youthful Minutemen squad, allowed five runs on six hits over five innings. He struck out eight and walked six before giving way to Jacob Hayes for the final two frames.
“He pitched well enough for us to win the game,” Wood said. “He kept us in it and had a situation that happened at the plate [where a pitch hit his thumb], but battled through it and would not let us take him out. That’s what a leader does. The younger guys look up to him. They see that battle and drive and I can’t say enough about him.”
Marple and Wyatt Mason keyed the Bucs’ eight-hit effort with two hits apiece.
“Ryder’s tough. Anytime we can score early, we’re much better off,” Squires said. “We try to strive for a run inning, but we have to have the mindset to score early, because we can never score enough runs.”