It wasn’t do-or-die – and yet it was.
Thursday night at Mylan Park, Morgantown Post 2 – guaranteed a host-team spot in the Regional tournament beginning Aug. 4 – faced elimination in the Area 2 postseason tournament against top-seeded Clarksburg.
But make no mistake: winning the Area tournament is a top priority every year for Post 2, as is qualifying for, and winning, the state tournament – and they surely had absolutely no intentions of bowing out without a fight.
As it turned out, it was Clarksburg that wasn’t able to bounce back from their 3-1 loss to Bridgeport in the 5:30 p.m. game, as Post 2 dominated with a 9-0 victory.
Morgantown (13-8, 1-1) burst out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the second with some quintessential Post 2 small ball. A lead-off walk was followed by a sacrifice bunt that forced an error, another perfect bunt from Jacob Cottle for a base hit, and Domenic Colasante’s sharp two-run single to right. Cody Thomas’ bunt forced across another tally, and Avante Neal drove in run No. 4 with a sac fly.
Meanwhile, burly righthander Jake Spearen utilized a well-located fastball and a slow bender to keep Clarksburg hitters off-balance, surrendering just a scratch infield hit in the first three innings. Although Post 13 (11-10, 0-2) got the leadoff batter on in the next two innings, Spearen picked off one and stranded the other with efficiency and grit.
Post 2 busted the game wide open in the sixth, aided in large part by an imploding Clarksburg defense. Cottle led off with a single, then Colasante’s sac bunt was thrown down the first base line, and dribbled through the rightfielder’s legs for a two-base error. Thomas lifted an RBI sac fly to center, then Jacob Kennell smacked an RBI single for the second run. Aaron Forbes laced a single to left, which was fumbled, allowing another run to score, and after a walk, a slow roller to second was thrown away, with two Post 2 runners alertly scoring. Five runs on three hits and four errors, and that was, for all intents and purposes, the ballgame.
After the game, Spearen shared what was working for him in his complete game: a five-hit, zero walks and nine strikeout gem.
“Strike one,” he said. “Actually, I had good command of my fastball, and my curve was moving a lot. We got ahead of them, and I just tried to stay low in the zone, get them to roll balls in the infield. Once we got the early lead, I felt comfortable out there just pounding strikes, and making them earn everything. They seemed pretty low energy after their first game, and once we put the big inning up late, we felt good about this one.”
Post 2 manager Andy Altemus predicted after Wednesday’s loss to Bridgeport that the loser of the first game might be physically and emotionally spent, and he couldn’t have been more right.
“I loved our energy tonight,” he said. “This was as complete a win as we’ve had all year. Jake did exactly what we asked him to do – throw strikes, don’t try to fool anybody, and compete. He was absolutely great, the defense was great, and we got our small ball game going. We put a lot of balls in play, put pressure on them, and you saw what happened.
“If we do that tomorrow against Bridgeport,” he concluded, “field the ball well, compete on the mound and at bat, and make them earn everything they get, I like our chances.”
Post 2 faces Bridgeport Friday at 7 p.m., hoping to extend the tournament to a final game Saturday afternoon.
Morgantown Post 2 040 005 0 – 9
Clarksburg Post 13 000 000 0 – 0
MORGANTOWN POST 2 (13-8, 1-1)
Jacob Kennell lf 4 1 2 1 Avante Neal cf 4 0 1 1 Aaron Forbes 3b 4 1 1 0 Tony Marsh rf 3 1 1 0 Zach Owens dh 3 1 1 0 Ty Galusky c 2 1 0 0 Caleb Cottle 1b 4 2 2 0 Domenic Colasante 2b 4 2 1 2 Cody Thomas ss 3 0 2 2 Jake Spearen p 0 0 0 0 Totals 31 9 11 6.
CLARKSBURG POST 68 (11-10, 0-2)
Brody Byrd 3b-p 3 0 1 0 Dillon Huston p-1b 3 0 0 0 Tanner Cook cf 3 0 2 0 Eli Kyle lf 2 0 0 0 Kole Bozik ss 3 0 1 0 Luke Davisson c 3 0 0 0 Josh Thomasikek 1b-p 3 0 1 0 Justin Herrod rf 1 0 0 0 Barron Swiger ph-rf 2 0 0 0 Nathaniel Jenkins 2b 2 0 0 0 Isaac Wolfe ph-lf 1 0 0 0 Brandon Myers 3b 0 0 0 0 Totals 26 0 5 0.
E – Clarksburg 5, Morgantown 1. LOB – Clarksburg 5, Morgantown 8. 2B – Morgantown 1 (Cottle). SH – Morgantown 3 (Galusky 2, Colasante). SF – Morgantown 2 (Neal, Thomas).. Balk – Clarksburg 1 (Huston).
Bridgeport – Huston (L) 5 ip 6 r 4 er 7 h 2 bb 4 so, Thomasikek 1 ip 3 r 0 er 2 h 1 bb 0 so, Byrd 1 ip 0 r 0 er 2 h 0 bb 0 so.
Morgantown – Spearen (W) 7 ip 0 r 0 er 5 h 0 bb 9 so.
