BRIDGEPORT — There was an old-fashioned pitchers’ dual on Wednesday night in Bridgeport as the University High School baseball team visited the Class AAA No. 2 Bridgeport Indians for an important sectional matchup.
UHS sophomore James Bryner and Bridgeport junior Carson Curry each had strong outings on the mound for their teams with a solid game from their respective defenses as well. Curry earned the complete game shutout victory allowing only two hits to the Hawks, while only walking one batter and striking out nine.
Bryner threw five innings on the bump for UHS (12-13) and allowed five hits but no runs with three strikeouts.
The lone run in the game came for Bridgeport (20-3) on a sacrifice fly by Rowen Michaelis in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“Tonight was a very competitive baseball game throughout,” UHS head coach Brad Comport said. “James pitched extremely well and has shown us a lot as a sophomore with some good command of the zone. He did a good job of attacking their hitters. Neither team was able to get anything going offensively. We were unable to capitalize on the few opportunities we had the chance to in the game.”
The Indians earned two of their six hits in the first inning and threatened early in the game with runners on second and third with two outs. Mark Biafore sent a high fly ball towards center field that UHS senior Wenkai Campbell caught after he tripped and fell onto his back.
UHS got its first hit of the game in the top of the third as Brock McDonough hit a single to left field but the Hawks were unable to capitalize.
The same proved true for the Indians also as they put runners on base every inning at bat but were shut down by Bryner and the UHS defense.
“It was a very clean baseball game tonight by both sides,” Comport said. “They were able to capitalize on the little things that make all the difference in the game of baseball. The team that does that is normally the one that wins a game like that.”
UHS senior Brodee Latocha relieved Bryner to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. BHS senior Dylan Duvall singled to lead the inning off then a bad hop in the infield caused an error that gave the hosts runners on first and second.
A sacrifice bunt moved the runners over to second and third, making way for Michaelis to come to bat with one out. He sent the 3-2 pitch to center field and brought Samuel Ramano home from third for the only run of the game.
“This is a tough result but this game shows us we are right there with the best teams,” Comport said. “We can hold our heads high and have confidence. In baseball, it can be any given day and we will continue to try and find ways to build momentum heading into the postseason.
BOX SCORE
Bridgeport 1, University 0
UHS 000 000 0 – 0 2 3
BHS 000 001 X – 1 6 1
University (12-13) – McDonald 3000 Latocha 3000 Campbell 3000 Chaney 3010 Anderson 3000 Cash 2000 Seggie 2000 McDonough 2010 McCune 2000
Bridgeport (20-3) – Rohrig 3010 Pierce 2010 Blake 1000 Baun 3010 Duvall 3010 Biafore 3000 Lively 3000 Michaelis 3001 Curry 3010 Romano 2010
WP: Currey 7.0ip 2h 0r 1bb 9k
LP: Latocha 1.0ip 1h 1r 0bb 0k
Morgantown 15, Mountain Ridge (Md.) 5
MORGANTOWN — The Mohigans celebrated senior night with a 15-5 victory over visiting Mountain Ridge (Md.) on Wednesday.
Nate Wolfe drove in six runs on the night with a first-inning grand slam, an RBI double and a sacrifice fly. Tristan Milik had three hits, a double and drove in two. Dylan Travinski also had two knocks. MHS drew 11 walks as a team.
Landon Bradley started on the mound and gave up 5 runs in 4.2 innings with three strikeouts. Eli Bogg pitched the final 1.1 scoreless innings.
MHS visits Upper St. Clair (Pa.) today then hosts Linsly on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
