MORGANTOWN — Morgantown High has one of the most productive lineups in West Virginia and it looked like the Mohigans were going to continue to roll up runs during Monday’s sectional tournament opener against Preston.
But after scoring five runs in the first two innings, MHS was stymied and scored just one run over the next three innings, thanks in large part to Knights pitcher Ethan Haskiell.
When he exited after allowing a double to Quintin Smith in the sixth inning, the Mohigans offense woke up, scoring five runs in the frame to 10-run the Knights 11-1 to earn the win.
But a 6-1 deficit as late as the sixth inning was surprising, considering Preston (6-12) was the low seed in Region I, Section 2, while MHS is ranked No. 3 in Class AAA in the latest MetroNews Power Rankings.
But Haskiell’s 3 2/3 innings kept the Mohigans (24-5) off-balance and kept the Knights in the game.
“He was phenomenal and I thought he pitched great,” Preston coach Glen McNew Jr. said of Haskiell. “He kept them off-balance and that’s what we told all of them to do. (Camden) Barlow threw well but he couldn’t quite find the strike zone, but Ethan came in and did a great job.”
Haskiell finished with five strike outs and two runs allowed, and when he came into the game trailing 5-0 in the second inning, he knew he just had to throw strikes.
“Just one pitch at a time, that’s all I was thinking,” Haskiell said. “I had something going, they weren’t hitting it, so I kept doing the same thing.”
Preston will have a chance to continue its season today at Mylan Park in the double-elimination format. The Knights will face University at 5 p.m., and the loser’s season is finished.
Regardless of the outcome, McNew is happy with how this year’s gone as the Knights doubled their win total from last season.
“We started off 2-1 and then we got a couple key players hurt,” he said. “It took us maybe 2-3 weeks to figure out where to go from there. Once we did, we started playing a little bit better. For the most part, we’ve hit the ball way better this year, we’ve pitched well, but we don’t have a lot of pitchers, so it kind of restricts what you can do.
“For the most part, though, they have definitely gotten better, which is what we wanted to do.”
The Mohigans will take on Buckhannon-Upshur in the winner’s game at 7 p.m. today after B-U beat UHS 11-5 on Monday. In two previous meetings, MHS beat the Buccaneers 15-2 on March 27 and 10-2 on April 10.
Prior to the postseason, MHS lost three of its final four games, and the offense seemed to always be out in front of pitches during the last stretch and that continued against the Knights.
Coach Mark McCarty won’t tell his players to be less aggressive, but they’re struggling against breaking pitches.
“I don’t know how you can continuously be off-balance the second or third time against the same kid, but we were,” he said. “This is an aggressive team so that happens at times, but it shouldn’t.”
Colton Matthews was the hottest hitter for the Mohigans, driving in four runs on three hits, including a double and triple. Caleb Taylor socked a home run over the left field fence, while Devon Neal, Ethan Smith, Charlie Kerzak and Gavin Cottle drove in runs.
Cottle earned the win on the mound, allowing one run on four hits in six innings.
