GRAFTON, W.Va. — Grafton scored at least one run in each of their four innings at the plate to reach the 20-win mark, defeating Lewis County 12-0 in five innings. With the victory, the Class AAA No. 10 Bearcats (20-7) tied a school record for victories.
“We’re excited about that. We’ve got a group of kids that work so incredibly hard. They have given themselves big goals and they are challenging themselves,” said Grafton head coach John Gouzd.
The Bearcats have won ten of their last twelve games. GHS went 1-1 in a split doubleheader on Saturday, defeating Hampshire 3-1 while losing to Elkins, 4-1.
“We did a lot better with our bats from what we did over the weekend. We struggled Saturday and we had a lot of guys trying to pull everything. We worked really hard in batting practice leading into today, hitting the ball to the back side a little bit. Our guys did that. We sprayed some hits around and did what we had to do today.”
Against the Minutemen, Grafton scored ten runs with two out. The Bearcats scored three runs in the second inning and seven more in the fourth to break the game open.
“It is just timely hitting. We tried to get in position and then it comes down to execution. We had a couple big two-out, two-run singles there in that fourth inning. That’s a lot of momentum. In high school baseball, it is a momentum game. If you can get that done, it just kind of rolls.”
Each batter in the Grafton lineup reached base at least once. Cameron Gray hit a solo home run and he scored twice. Jacob Moats and Carter Gillespie each had multi-hit games.
Moats pitched four innings of one-hit baseball. He struck out four batters.
“He’s got good stuff. He struggled just a hair with the zone and he spiked a few baseballs. But when he gets three pitches working like he did at times, it is really hard on hitters and their timing.”
Ryan Boyles retired the side in order for Grafton in the fifth inning to close the game out.
Levi Boram went 1-for-2 for the Minutemen (9-17).