DUNBAR, W.Va. — In a matchup of the top two teams in the Class AA MetroNews rankings, No. 2 Wheeling Central Catholic pounded out 22 hits in a 16-5 win at No. 1 Charleston Catholic.
The Maroon Knights scored six runs in the third inning and six more in the seventh inning, collecting a combined 16 hits in those two frames.
“We had prom last night so a lot of these kids were up until three in the morning,” said Wheeling Central Catholic head coach Todd Cover. “So you never know what you are going to get. They put together some quality at bats. We have actually been doing that all week. In our conference we had some big games this week we had to win against some really tough competition and tough pitchers.”
Each batter in Central’s starting lineup had at least one base hit and eight of the starters scored at least one run.
“We are pretty deep. Last year I made a joke during the state tournament run that we were about 13 hitters deep. I think we are maybe a bit under that right now. I think there’s probably eleven we feel pretty comfortable with. Anyone we put out there one through nine, I have faith in and know they can do the job.”
Jake Brown, Koy Lipinski and Clay Petry all hit home runs for Central. Brown, Zayne Rosnick, Brady Ernest and Petry each had three hits. Rosnick and Ernest each drove in three runs.
Mercyhurst signee Steven Brodegard allowed two runs in six innings to pick up the win for the defending state champions. He struck out seven batters.
“There’s a bunch of pitchers we have a lot of faith in and Steven is one of them. When he throws strikes and can command all his pitches and get them all in the zone, he is pretty tough to hit. When he does that and we hit like this, I think we are a tough out.”
Xander Allara, Connor Jarvis and Danny Linton each had a pair of base hits for the Irish (14-5).
Wheeling Central Catholic also defeated Logan, 4-1 late Saturday.