MORGANTOWN — Strong baserunning and a six-run fourth inning at the plate propelled Trinity (6-7) to a shortened 14-4 victory on Tuesday night at Mylan Park over Preston (0-11).
PHS was the first to score, despite the outcome, on a sacrifice fly to center in the first inning. However, the Warriors came out with an opening inning of scoring, as well, tallying three of their own. All three runs came from pitches that got past the Knights catcher, allowing the runners to score from third. This became a theme of the night for PHS as its opponents only earned five total hits but scored 14 runs.
The Warriors added another run in the second on another error. Then added three more again in the third. In fact, TCS scored at least one run in every inning.
“We were aggressive on our base running which contributed to manufacturing runs,” Trinity coach Wes Hopkins said.
The Knights came to bat in the fourth inning trailing 7-1, and knew avoiding another scoreless inning was crucial if the comeback would happen.
With two outs and two runners on base, Knights pitcher Brady McNew smacked a double to score both runners and cut the deficit to four runs, 7-3. McNew advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a single by Brandt to make it 7-4.
Allowing a comeback was not on the Warriors agenda, however, as they too had high-scoring fourth inning, scoring six runs and extending the lead to nine at 13-4. Two hits and three wild pitches were the causes of the scoring plays, as the Knights struggled to control the ball behind the plate.
After a scoreless top half of the fifth, TCS came to bat only needing one run to earn the win. It came on a hard single to short by Peyton Dixon that scored Rennick Wotring from third. The Warriors earned their sixth victory on the year.
“Our defense played well for the most part behind our pitchers this evening,” Hopkins said.
The two teams will meet once again Wednesday, this time hosted by PHS. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
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Trinity Christian (6-7)
Dixon 3 1 1 1 Rice 2 2 1 1 Timperio 3 1 1 0 Sheffstall 2 3 1 3 Hancox 1 3 1 0 Toler 3 0 0 0 Lynch 2 1 0 0 Murray 2 1 0 0 Wotring 1 2 0 0
Preston High (0-11)
Mcnew 3 2 3 2 Brandt 3 0 2 1 Chaney 3 0 0 1 Snyder 2 0 0 0 Turner 2 0 0 0 Belanger 3 1 3 0 Henderson 2 1 0 0 Lansberry 1 0 0 0 Wharton 2 0 0 0 Desantis 2 0 0 0
TCHS 3 1 3 6 1 xx 14 5 3
PHS 1 0 0 3 0 4 8 3
