MORGANTOWN — Tristan Milik might have just earned himself a new nickname on Wednesday at Dale Miller Field.
Just call him The Worm.
Milik, a lanky 6-foot-2 senior pitcher for the Morgantown High School baseball team, wiggled out of early trouble to pitch the Mohigans (10-3) past rival University, 8-3.
“Historically what you find in baseball, especially high school baseball, is the first inning is where most of the runs are scored,” MHS head coach Pat Sherald said. “I really complimented Tristan on his maturity. (UHS) had an opportunity to put up a lot more runs, and he was able to do some damage control and got out of that first inning with just two runs and that really kept us in the ball game and gave us an opportunity to win the game, quite frankly.”
The Hawks (9-7) grabbed the early 2-0 lead in the first inning as Mason McDonald scored on a wild pitch and Brodee Latocha drew a bases-loaded walk. UHS drew two walks in the inning, reached on an error and had a batter hit by a pitch before Milik found his control.
The Salem University signee retired the next six batters in order and didn’t surrender another hit until the fifth inning.
“I had to take a step off and take a deep breath and change my sights,” Milik said. “I heard Coach Sherald tell me to lower my eyes and that helped out a lot.”
Morgantown chipped away at the UHS lead as it scored one run in the second when Dylan Travinski scored on a passed ball and tied the game at 2-2 in the third as Mason Bowers scored when Travinski grounded out to the pitcher.
While Milik worked his way through the UHS lineup, the Hawks struggled to throw strikes. UHS used four pitchers in the contest and the Mohigans drew 14 walks.
The Mohigans grabbed a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning as Koa Silvers drove home Elijah Boggs on an infield single and then Caleb Nutter pushed home a run with a bases-loaded walk. MHS added one more run in the fifth when Ryan Nipper hit an RBI single to centerfield scoring Nate Wolfe.
UHS cut the lead to 5-3 on an RBI single from Latocha, but that was the last time UHS threatened as Judd Messerly took over for Milik on the mound and didn’t allow a hit in 2 1/3 innings of work.
“We didn’t have great command of the strike zone,” UHS head coach Brad Comport said. “We gave up way too many free passes, too many passed balls and we didn’t take care of the ball on defense. They put pressure on us and took advantage of certain situations and ultimately that hurt us bad.”
Morgantown finished the night with 10 stolen bases in the contest. Sherald said most of his team has the freedom to take an extra base when they can.
“We saw some opportunities tonight and we were able to take advantage of them,” Sherald said.
UHS finished with just three hits in the contest as Riley Anderson had a single and a double with Latocha adding his RBI single in the fifth. Daniel Grabo took the loss on the mound for UHS.
Morgantown had six hits in the game with Boggs picking up a single and a double to lead the way. Silvers, Nipper, Weston Mazey and Bowers each had a single in the contest.
Milik pitched 4 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and scattered the three hits.
Morgantown returns to action today when it hosts Bridgeport at 5:30 p.m. while University travels to John Marshall for a 5 p.m. contest.
By ERIC HERTER
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 8, University 3
MHS 011 212 0 – 8 6 2
UHS 200 100 0 – 3 3 2
MHS – Silvers 1 1 1 1, Mazey 2 1 1 0, Nutter 4 1 0 1, Travinski 4 1 0 1, Montague 3 0 0 0, Wolfe 4 1 0 0, Boggs 3 1 2 1, Nipper 2 0 1 2, Bowers 3 2 1 0. Totals: 26 8 6 6.
UHS – McDonald 4 1 0 0, Chaney 3 0 0 0, Anderson 4 2 2 0, Campbell 2 0 0 0, Cash 1 0 0 0, Latocha 2 0 1 2, Grabo 4 0 0 0, McDonough 1 0 0 0, McCune 4 0 0 0. Totals: 25 3 3 2.
2B – Boggs. Anderson
WP – Milik 4.2ip 3h 3r 2er 4bb 6k
LP – Grabo 1.2ip 2h 2r 0er 2b 3k
S – Messerly 2.1ip 0h 0r 0er 2bb 1k
