FAIRMONT, W.Va. — On a chilly Tuesday night, Buckhannon-Upshur’s Jerin Westfall didn’t want to complicate matters.
“I threw mostly fastballs,” Westfall said. “I wasn’t too worried about the off speed.”
In an effort to challenge the Bees consistently, Westfall kept it simple, and that approach led to a dominant outing in which he struck out 11 over 5.2 innings and allowed one run on two hits to key the Buccaneers to a 5-1 victory against the Bees.
“It’s cold out, so I know it’s going to hurt the hands a little bit for the batters,” Westfall said. “In these conditions, I feel like I work better. I get my blood flowing and feel so smooth and my body opens up for me to throw anything I want. Fastballs worked a lot today. Throughout the previous games I’ve thrown in, I haven’t been my best. Today is a big confidence boost to dial in the zone, hit my spots and it felt really good to get 11 strikeouts and prove to myself I can do what I want to when I set my standards really high.”
The Bucs (5-1) loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first and scored the game’s first run when Jacob Frye hit a ground ball to third base, and some indecision on defense led to a late throw to first and Frye legging out an infield single that brought Westfall across the plate.
EFHS (6-5) scored its lone run on a Will Hawkins groundout in the second inning, one that enabled River McClain to come home from third.
The Bees followed with consecutive singles, but Westfall induced a ground ball to third off the bat of Owen Music to escape unscathed.
Music struck out three straight B-U batters in the third after the first two had reached, and though Westfall hit two batters in the home half of that inning, he again got out of trouble — this time via a pickoff and strikeout.
“Westfall was effectively wild. A ball here, a ball here and then he’d pipe one,” Bees’ coach Joe Price said. “Our guys didn’t see much other than that fastball and when you get that fastball in that window, you can’t miss. But he really did a good job today. He hit three batters and was effectively wild, but not very many walks though, so hats off to him. He threw a nice game and we didn’t put the ball in play enough.”
Aidan Squires reached on an error to start the top of the fourth and would prove to be costly for the Bees.
With runners at the corners and two outs in that inning, Brody McDaniels connected for an infield single to plate Squires with the go-ahead run.
Cleanup hitter Jaxon Spratt followed with a three-run home run to left, giving B-U four runs with two outs in that frame, and more importantly, a 5-1 advantage.
“He’s been hot all year and one swing of the bat changed the course of the game,” Bucs’ coach Adam Squires said. “He’s come through when we’ve needed him to and he does a great job behind the plate for us, too.”
After taking the mound with the four-run lead, Westfall retired the side in the fourth and fifth inning. He then struck out the first two batters of the sixth to make it nine consecutive batters retired, seven of which came by strikeout.
“His mentality is a little different. He ended last season really well in the games he pitched in and he’s carried that over to this year where it’s more like he’s right at the guys, competing and saying this is my stuff, either hit or don’t,” coach Squires said. “He’s going right after people.”
Following his third hit batsman, Westfall was relieved by Weldon Zirkle, who pitched 1.1 scoreless innings without allowing a hit.
B-U finished with seven hits, three of which Spratt accounted for to give him one more than the Bees managed.
Westfall walked only one batter.
Music took the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in 3.2 innings. He struck out six and walked three before giving way to River McClain, who went the rest of the way and struck out six without allowing a run.
“Owen settled in after that first inning, found a groove and really did a great job keeping them off balance, getting them out on their front foot and changing their swings,” Price said. “He did a phenomenal job. We’re in that position where we have to make some plays behind him and it may be a different game.”