MORGANTOWN — When University senior Jett Walters walked to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning on Wednesday, he was justifiably nervous.
The Hawks had loaded the bases with one out while deadlocked 6-6 with Bridgeport in a Region 1, Section 2 semifinal on Shilling Field at Mylan Park. All Walters needed to do was get one run home to win it for his team.
“I was pretty nervous going up there, to be honest,” he admitted. “My heart was pumping but I knew I had to come through for the team.”
The first pitch Walters saw from the Bridgeport pitcher hit him in the leg, driving pinch hitter Park Croyle in from third base and giving the Hawks (20-9) a 7-6 walk-off victory and a spot in Friday’s section final.
“The relief was crazy,” Walters said. “I saw the pitch, it hit me and then (the nerves) were gone. I walked to first and I was so happy.”
The walk-off plunking capped off a victory that saw the Hawks come back from a 5-0 third-inning deficit and take advantage of uncharacteristically sloppy play by Bridgeport (16-13). The Indians committed four errors in the field and their pitchers hit four UHS batters, including two in the bottom of the seventh.
“If we can get runners on and put some pressure on, good things have the opportunity to happen,” UHS coach Brad Comport said. “Park Croyle came off the bench and got a big hit to lead off the inning and that gave us the spark that we needed.”
Bridgeport built a 5-0 lead after scoring two runs in the top of the second and three in the third. UHS starter Logan Vance struggled with command, walking six batters in three innings. Despite the deficit, University knew it offense was good enough to stay in contention.
“We weren’t scared at all,” Walters said. “We knew we needed to hit the ball to win. Five runs is nothing to us, we always come back.”
UHS responded with three runs in the bottom of the third on RBIs from Cody Thomas, Noah Braham andWenkai Campbell. Bridgeport added a sixth run in the top of the fourth, but UHS came back with two more in the bottom of the frame to make it a 6-5 game after four innings.
Thomas replaced Vance on the mound and, after allowing a run in the fourth, shut down Bridgeport’s offense, allowing just one hit across the final three innings with three strikeouts.
“Cody has been doing it all year,” Comport said. “We know exactly what we’re going to get when Cody takes the mound. Anywhere that he plays, you’re going to get a competitor that is going to go out for you and try to win. He proves it time and time again as a reliable guy for us.”
Fittingly, Thomas drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Gabe Jansen to scurry home from third.
Bridgeport starting pitcher Andrew Bell had a valiant outing, striking out three with five hits and no walks in five innings, but three errors behind him took him out of the decision.
The Indians will now host Buckhannon-Upshur in an elimination game Thursday. The winner will travel back to Mylan for the section championship against University.
University 7, Bridgeport 6
BPT 023 100 0 — 6 7 4
UHS 003 201 1 — 7 6 1
BRIDGEPORT — Rohrig 2 0 0 0; Baston 4 0 2 1; Reed 4 0 0 0; Bell 2 1 0 0; Pierce 1 0 0 0; Biafore 2 1 0 0; Curry 2 2 2 1; Duvall 1 1 0 0; Blake 1 0 0 0; Baun 3 0 2 2; Peasak 2 1 1 0. Totals 24 6 7 4.
UNIVERSITY — Latocha 3 1 0 1; Thomas 2 0 0 2; Braham 4 1 2 1; Campbell 3 0 1 1; Croyle 1 1 1 0; Croston 3 0 0 0; Furbee 1 0 0 0; Templeton 3 1 1 0; Jansen 2 2 0 0 ; Walters 3 1 1 1; Smolkin 1 0 0 1. Totals 26 7 6 7.
2B — Bridgeport: Curry, Baun. University: Braham, Campbell.
WP: Thomas 4ip, 1r, 3h, 2bb, 3k.
LP: Pierce 1ip, 1r, 1h, 2bb, 0k.
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