MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Class AAAA No. 1 Morgantown faced adversity early and often Tuesday night in a matchup against Class AAA No. 7 Robert C. Byrd at Dale Miller Field.
How the Mohigans handled it went a long way toward them rallying for a 10-5 victory.
Trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Morgantown used a mixture of patience, timely hitting and aggressive base-running to score six runs and seize control of the contest.
The inning began with the Mohigans (19-3) getting a pair on courtesy of base-on-balls drawn by Mason Bowers and Grayson Campbell.
RCB (16-6) relief pitcher Landon Frazier retired the next two hitters, before Jackson Bredeson delivered the game’s most important hit — a two-run single to left-center that tied the matchup at 5.
Bredeson took second on a throw home and got to third when that throw got away, before scoring the go-ahead run when Slade Barton followed with a hard-hit triple to right that was misplayed.
“We saw something we could take advantage of and we did there in that big inning,” MHS assistant coach Tim Bradley said. “We got our guys running and really got our composure back. Bredeson had a big hit and some great base-running to go first to third on a couple throws, putting himself in position to score later that inning.”
Frazier was pulled for Owen O’Mara with the Eagles trailing by one run and the bases loaded, but Brayden Gorby greeted O’Mara with a pivotal two-run single to right.
Grayson Campbell later drew a bases loaded walk to leave MHS with a 9-5 lead through five, and Bredeson worked around Frazier’s two-out single in the sixth to log a scoreless frame in his first inning in relief.
The home half of the sixth was prolonged by an Eagles’ error with two outs and Luca Mezzanotte ensured it proved costly for RCB when he singled with two outs to plate courtesy runner Colton Taylor.
Bredeson again allowed a two-out single in the seventh, but was otherwise unharmed in throwing his second scoreless inning to seal the result.
“Morgantown is a quality team, but we didn’t do the little things correctly to win that game, so it kind of got out of hand,” Eagles’ coach Derek Bowen said.
It was a rather unusual game that saw MHS jump out to a 2-0 first-inning lead on a Koa Silvers sacrifice fly and a throwing error off a strikeout on a throw to first that brought home Mason Bowers.
Yet when that inning concluded with what the umpires deemed an out on a slide through the bag at second base that forced out batter Ryan Nipper, MHS coach Pat Sherald was ejected.
“We have a great culture,” Bradley said. “Coach Sherald has done a great job with our staff and players and we’re ready to answer the call anytime. Our motto is work while you wait, and that’s what we did tonight.”
O’Mara’s two-out infield single that scored Sam Webber allowed the Eagles to trail 2-1 and also led to the ejection of Silvers, who had started at third base and was hitting third.
MHS led 3-1 in the third before Xavier Carvelli drove in a run with a single, and he scored the tying run moments later courtesy of a Severio Destito double to right-center.
RCB starter Jaxson Maglowski pitched a scoreless third and Frazier followed suit in the fourth after taking over on the mound.
With the game tied at 3 in the top of the fifth, Carvelli singled home Cooper Floyd, who had led off with a single and stole second base.
RCB had its first lead at that point but doubled it moments later when Maglowski drove in Carvelli with a single to center.
“It seemed like after the first time through, the kids settled down and they had some good swings,” Bowen said.
But the Eagles weren’t up to par defensively for much of the outing, and that proved costly as the game wore on, as did five walks and a hit batsman in the fifth.
“Walks killed us and errors. You mix in a couple hits and you have a disaster,” Bowen said.
Gorby, Bredeson and Mezzanotte had two hits apiece in the win, while Floyd, Carvelli and Destito each had two hits in defeat.
MHS starting pitcher Lucas Shinn allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings.
Maglowski allowed two hits and three runs over three innings.
“A couple years ago, I got to coach when coach was out for work and we won the OVAC Championship,” Bradley said. “To go through that and have that experience, I feel like I’m ready. It wasn’t a situation tonight where it was like, ‘OK, here we go.’ But all in all, our team competed and I was ready to answer the call when it was my turn.”