WEST UNION, W.Va. — The third meeting of the season between Doddridge County and Williamstown bore little resemblance to the first two. After a pair of tightly-contested, low-scoring regular season matchups, the Bulldogs dominated the Yellowjackets 12-1 in the championship game of the Little Kanawha Conference Tournament.
“The LKC is a great conference. Williamstown is a great program as well,” said Doddridge County head coach Nathan Wright. “They are also a regional opponent, so that is big for us. On top of that, I think this might be the first time Doddridge baseball has won an LKC Championship. It is great for these guys with the hard work they have been putting in since January.”
Doddridge defeated Williamstown, 3-1 on March 23. WHS avenged that defeat with a 1-0 win on April 23.
In Friday’s title game, the Bulldogs scored in six different innings and they also had at least one hit in six innings. DCHS collected all the offense they would need just six batters into the game. An RBI single from Dayne Murphy and a two-run single from Malachi Kelley gave Doddridge three runs in the first inning.
“Getting three runs right off the bat and having some good barrels there, that gave the guys confidence out there.”
The Bulldogs led 5-1 in the fifth inning before tacking on seven insurance runs in the final three innings.
“I wanted them to be aggressive early in the count and not seeing so many pitches. We’re trying to hit fastballs early and just trying to put the ball in play. It just happened to go our way and they found holes.”
Staked to an early lead, Tristan Swiger went the distance on the hill for the Bulldogs (18-5). He struck out ten batters while allowing eight hits.
“I think that was the big thing with Swiger, attacking the zone. Towards the end, I felt like he froze a lot of guys with his off speed there and that kind of caught them off guard. He started a lot with the fastball and he came back with the off speed.”
Each Bulldog in the starting lineup reached base at least once. Luke Rokisky led the Bulldogs with three hits while Murphy, Kelley and Maxwell Nicholson added two. Rokisky, Kelley and Josh DeHaven each drove in two runs.
Williamstown (16-12) starting pitcher Jenner Burge allowed five runs in four-plus innings of work. WHS’ lone run came in the fourth inning on a run-scoring single from Ben Raines. Tyler Kaiser collected three of the Yellowjackets’ seven hits.