MORGANTOWN — Necessity very well may be the mother of invention.
However, when it comes to high school baseball, injuries, and a stretch of six games in seven days can force a coach to invent new ways to pick up a victory.
On Monday, UHS head coach Brad Comport turned to senior Riley Anderson on Senior Day and asked him to start on the mound.
“We needed some extra arms and Riley stepped up and wanted the ball,” Comport said.
Anderson, who hadn’t pitched in the three previous years of high school, has appeared in four games on the mound for the Hawks prior to Tuesday’s first start.
In fact, Anderson hasn’t pitched since his days of playing rec ball.
“We have a long week coming up and we needed for him to be able to eat the innings,” Comport said. “He was just so competitive, and it was really special for him to have an outing like that.”
Anderson scattered five hits over five innings, struck out three and allowed just two runs as the Hawks (11-12) beat visiting Spring Mills 11-4.
UHS lost to the Cardinals, 10-1, on Saturday as part of the Mon County Baseball Classic. However, the win on Tuesday showed the Hawks still have some fight left despite winning just their second game in the last eight contests.
“I thought we had a lot better at-bats and I thought we had a lot better energy,” Comport said. “We did a good job with two strikes, and we did a good job of taking advantage of some of their mistakes – which is something we haven’t been great at lately.”
Anderson was able to navigate through a longer first inning as he allowed one run on three hits before setting in. He allowed just one more run in his final four innings of work and retired six of the final seven Spring Mills’ hitters.
“This was my first time starting any high school game,” Anderson said. “My thoughts were I was going to come into the game and go as many innings as possible. The last few months have been great with this group of guys and it’s good to get a win.”
The Hawks erased the 1-0 deficit in the first inning when they sent 11 hitters to the plate and scored five runs. Mason Chaney had an RBI triple in the frame while Mason McDonald drew a bases-loaded walk.
University added four more runs in the second inning as Chaney and Brock McDonough each had RBI singles and Brance McCune added an RBI double. UHS scored one run in the fifth when McCune scored and one more run in the sixth as Brodee Latocha drew a bases-loaded walk.
UHS picked up 13 hits in the contest with senior Duke Seggie leading the way with three singles, McCune, and Chaney each had two hits and Latocha added two RBI.
“When we are getting production one through nine – that’s definitely big,” Comport said. “It’s good to see some guys slowly gaining some confidence and we want to get to the point where anyone is able to do damage at any point in the game and I think we are on our way there.”
Trestyn Wysocki and Ryan Swartz led the Cardinals with two hits each while Landon Stanley took the loss on the mound.
The Hawks return to action today when they travel to Buckhannon-Upshur for a 5 p.m. contest.
BY ERIC HERTER/For The Dominion Post
BOX SCORE
University 11, Spring Mills 4
SM 101 000 2 – 4 6 2
UHS 540 011 X – 11 13 0
SM – Anders 3 2 1 0, Wysocki 4 1 2 0, Sweeney 4 0 1 1, Swartz 4 0 2 1, Cumlay 1 0 0 0, Taylor 2 0 0 1, Eichelberger 2 0 1 0, Montgomery 3 0 0 0, Butts 3 0 0 0, Trumpower 2 0 0 0, Bates 0 1 0 0. Totals: 28 4 7 3.
UHS – McDonald 2 1 0 1, Latocha 3 0 1 2, Anderson 4 2 1 0, Glotfelty 1 0 0 0, Campbell 3 2 1 0, Chaney 2 2 2 2, Bryner 1 0 0 0, Vance 1 0 0 0, Cash 3 0 1 1, Jenkins 1 0 0 0, Seggie 4 3 3 0, McDonough 3 0 1 1, Croston 1 0 1 0, McCune 2 1 2 1, Osborne 0 0 0 0. Totals: 32 11 12 8.
2B – SM 1 (Wysocki) UHS 1 (McCune)
3B – UHS 1 (Chaney)
WP – Anderson 5ip 6h 2r 2er 2bb 3k
LP – Stanley 0.2ip 4h 5r 3er 2bb 0k
