MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When you are a high school baseball team with a 19-4 record – as was Morgantown heading into their second-round Region I, Section 1 game against John Marshall Wednesday at Mylan Park – you’ve likely enjoyed some fairly comfortable days at the ballpark. The pitching staff is sharp and overpowering, the defense buttoned up tight, and the bats are cracking.
The matchup with John Marshall was not one of those nights for the Mohigans, not with a tough left starter dealing for the first half of the game.
But teams with a 19-4 record also know how to win, and MHS, backed by a gritty, complete game performance from right-hander Quincy Thornton, finally broke through late with seven unanswered runs to win, 7-1.
The Monarchs (20-13) scratched across a run in the first on an error, single, and wild pitch, although Thornton was able to clean up the inning by rolling a 6-4-3 double play ball. And that was it for the scoring for a while, as Jacob Korngiver used a slow curveball to keep the Mohigans hitters off balance with nary a hit or even hard-hit ball. Meanwhile, rather than allowing JM to add on, Thornton worked out of a bases-jammed, self-induced pickle in the second, then worked through another problem in the third, aided by an alert 1-1-3 double play on a failed bunt attempt.
The turning point came in the bottom of the fourth, as the Mohigans (20-4) grinded out some quality at-bat against Korngiver to bat around and take the lead.
Thornton started things off with a walk, and with two outs, stole second and got to third on a passed ball. Domenic Colasante was hit by a pitch and was at second when Ethan Smith got the fastball he was looking for and drilled it to center for the Mohigans’ first hit and a 1-1 tie. Zach Owens appeared to foul out, but was awarded first on catcher’s interference, and MHS made the Monarchs pay. Another passed ball and two more walks plated two more runs to give Morgantown a 3-1 lead.
“We always have some trouble with lefthanders,” said Smith, who finished with two big hits and three big RBIs. “But where we might’ve gotten down and started pressing, we stayed up and energetic in the dugout, which kept us relaxed the second time through the order.”
After Thornton stranded two more baserunners in the fifth, MHS took command with four more runs. Aaron Jamison lead off with a long, lefty-versus-lefty home run deep to right, then Smith followed later in the inning with a two-run single to center, took second on the throw, and took third on the overthrow. When Owens followed with a sac fly, the Mohigans had all the runs they’d need. Thornton continued his ‘bend-not-break’ mentality as he stranded two weak singles in the sixth, then put JM down in order to cap the victory.
“I didn’t really have my best stuff today,” Thornton said of his 8-hit, zero earned run outing, “but I wanted to keep us close and finish the game once we got the lead. My fastball was working well when I was able to spot it, and I like to pitch to contact, and make them earn everything they get. Our defense is strong, and I trust them behind me. This was a grind it out, get through the inning kind of game, but we made it work.”
MHS coach Pat Sherald appreciated watching a mature pitcher at work.
“When you learn how to win a game against a good team even if you don’t have your best stuff, that’s when you go from thrower to pitcher,” he said. “Quincy gives us a chance to win every time out, and it’s a mark of how we’ve grown as a team that we never got down, and we stayed close and gave ourselves a chance to come back against a very good pitcher. We’ve been through adversity at times this year, and this was a great example of our resiliency. It was a confident performance.”
The winners-bracket leading Mohigans are back in action at home Friday evening, with opponent and game time TBD.
John Marshall (20-13)
Bryce Rayl ss 3 1 0 0 Dereck Black 2b 4 0 0 0 Jacob Cauffield 3b 4 0 3 0 Joel Wise 1b 3 0 1 0 Ethan Neely dh 4 0 1 0 Dylan Wright rf-p 3 0 0 0 Reid Wiley cf 3 0 1 0 Jacob Korngiver p-rf 2 0 2 0 Brennan Sabutka p 0 0 0 0 Garrett Gellner lf 2 0 0 0 Lance Finley c 0 0 0 0 Totals 28 1 8 0
MORGANTOWN (20-4)
Ryan Fluharty ss 3 0 0 1 Ty Galusky c 4 0 0 0 Aaron Jamison cf 2 1 1 1 Quincy Thornton p 2 1 0 0 Zach Brennan 1b 2 1 0 0 Domenic Colasante 3b 2 2 1 0 Ethan Smith rf 3 2 2 3 Zach Owens dh 2 0 0 1 Jacob Kennell lf 2 0 0 0 Caleb Cottle 2b 0 0 0 0 Totals 22 7 4 6.
John Marshall 100 000 0 – 1
Morgantown 000 340 x – 7
E- JM 3 MHS 2. DP – MHS 2. LOB – JM 10 MHS 6. HR – MHS 1 (Jamison). SF – MHS (Owens). HBP – JM 1 ( Rayl by Thornton), MHS 2 (Thornton, Colasante by Korngiver)
JM – Korngiver (L) 4.1 ip 6 r 5 er 3 h 5 bb 6 so, Wright 1.1 ip 1 r 0 er 1 h 1 bb 2 so, Sabutka 0.1 ip 0 r 0 er 0 h 0 bb 0 so.
MHS – Thornton (W) 7 ip 1 r 0 er 8 h 3 bb 5 so.
