Hawks’ 1st victory over rival Mohigans since 2018
MORGANTOWN — As if University-Morgantown baseball wasn’t already intense enough, Friday night’s tilt at Dale Miller Field at Mylan Park included the added stakes of a berth in next week’s Ohio Valley Athletic Conference championship final.
The Mohigans had beaten the Hawks 10-0 and 7-5 already this season and in fact, had not dropped a decision to UHS since 2018. This could not have sat well in the University dugout, for sure.
“We knew we hadn’t beat them in a while,” UHS manager Brad Comport smiled, “but we also knew that we’ve been coming on, especially with the bats. We feel that if we play our game, we can beat anybody, and it showed tonight.”
But baseball often has a way of evening out, and it was the Hawks’ turn to turn in a gorgeous game on a gorgeous evening, as they pounded and pitched their way to a convincing 10-4 win and a trip to the OVAC final.
The rivals traded single runs in the first, the Hawks (12-8) scoring on Wenkai Campbell’s spanked RBI single, the Mohigans’ (15-5) tying run classically manufactured on Weston Mazey’s leadoff walk, Ty Galusky’s perfect bunt, and Ryan Fluharty’s sac fly.
UHS DH Josh Smolkin drove in Jett Walters in the second to forge a 2-1 lead. The Hawks took advantage of a third strike wild pitch that could’ve ended the inning, turning that into two runs on Gabe Templeton’s booming triple and Jake Croston’s RBI single.
Down 4-1, MHS leveraged a few hits and some uncharacteristic wildness from University starter Zach Harman to score a pair, although Harman pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out pickle to maintain a 4-3 lead after three. And the Hawks bats stayed red hot, as they bunched four straight hits to put up a 5-spot in the fourth, the big blow a titanic, opposite-field, three-run dinger from Noah Braham.
The Hawks scratched out a single run in the sixth to extend the lead to 10-3, but the only dent the Mohigans could make against UHS reliever Cody Thomas was a final-inning home run from Eli Boggs.
After the game, MHS skipper Pat Sherald summed this one up rather succinctly.
“They had 11 hits and we had 3, and you’re not going to win very many games like that,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for that team, and there’s an awful lot of power in the middle of their lineup, and it showed tonight. They put a big inning up against us, and I think they just had more quality at-bats than we did tonight. I hope we get a chance to see them again because that means we both took care of our business in sectionals.”
“I thought we had an aggressive, controlled approach at the plate, and we competed very well, especially with two strikes,” Comport said. “On the mound, Zach (Harmon) has continued to impress me with his ability to remain composed on the mound and make quality pitches in pressure situations. And there’s nobody else I trust more with the game on the line than Cody Thomas. He shut down a really good team and gave them no chance to get back into this one.
“All in all,” he concluded, “this was a solid team win against a very good opponent, and it showed us just what we’re capable of doing. We’re looking forward to continuing to improve and playing our best baseball down the stretch and into tournament time.”
The OVAC title game for University against familiar foe Wheeling Park — the two teams have split their season series — is slated for next Friday or Saturday at Harrison Central High School (Oh.).
The Hawks are back in action on the road at Buckhannon-Upshur on Monday, while the Mohigans host the Bucs on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Mylan Park.
BY MARK SCHRAF
University 10, Morgantown 4
University 112 501 0 – 10
Morgantown 102 000 1 – 4
UNIVERSITY (12-8) — Brodee Latocha lf 5 1 2 1 Cody Thomas ss-p 5 3 1 1 Noah Braham 1b 3 1 2 3 Wenkai Campbell cf 4 1 1 1 Gabe Templeton rf 3 1 1 1 Jake Croston c 3 0 1 1 Jett Walters 2b 2 2 1 1 Tyler Furbee 3b 3 0 0 0 Josh Smolkin dh 4 1 2 1 Zach Harman p 0 0 0 0 Daniel Grabo ss 0 0 0 0 Totals 32 10 11 10.
MORGANTOWN (15-5) — Weston Mazey dh 1 2 0 0 Ty Galusky c 4 0 1 0 Aaron Jamison cf 3 0 0 1 Ryan Fluharty ss 1 0 0 1 Caleb Nutter rf 2 0 0 0 Drew Bailey lf 3 0 0 0 Caleb Cottle 3b-p 3 0 0 0 Tommy Montague 1b 2 0 0 0 Eli Boggs 2b 3 2 2 1 Dylan Travinski p-3b 0 0 0 0 Totals 22 2 3 3.
E- UHS 1 MHS 3. LOB – UHS 7 MHS 5. 3B – MHS 1 (Templeton). HR – UHS 1 (Braham), MHS 1 (Boggs). SH – MHS 1 (Furbee), MHS 2 (Mazey, Galusky). SF – MHS 1 (Jamison, Fluharty). HBP – MHS 3 (Braham, Walters by Travinski, Walters by Cottle)
UHS – Harman (W) 4 ip 3 r 3 er 2 h 5 bb 3 so, Thomas (S) 3 ip 1 r 1 er 1 h 0 bb 5 so.
MHS – Travinski (L) 4 ip 9 r 9 er 10 h 1 bb 4 so, Cottle 3 ip 1 r 0 er 1 h 1 bb 4 so.
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