MORGANTOWN – The MHS baseball team (12-5) continued its winning ways on Wednesday night at Dale Miller Field defeating Robert C. Byrd by a score of 7-2.
The Mohigans got another strong start from pitcher Reed Bailey. The senior threw 5.1 innings and only allowed three hits and two runs. He also struck out seven Eagles at the plate. In fact, RCB didn’t even register a hit until the top of the fourth inning on a double by Warne.
Ryan Fluharty doubled in the first inning to score the first run of the game. He would be brought home by Jeffery Poach on a fly ball to center after advancing to third the play before. MHS totaled 11 hits on the day.
After the early scoring however, neither team would see a run scored until the fifth inning. The Eagles cut the lead in half on a sacrifice bunt that scored the runner on third base. That would be the only run they would salvage in the inning.
Jacob Kennell cushioned the lead for MHS in the bottom of the fifth inning on a double to left field. The Mohigans right fielder went 3 for 4 on the day at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. Another run would give the home team a 4-1 lead with two innings to play.
“He [Kennell] has been outstanding all year for us,” MHS head coach Pat Sherman said of his senior. “He can hit, he can bunt and run, hit doubles for us and its especially exciting on senior night.”
The Eagles did manage a run in the top half of the sixth inning but the Mohigans didn’t let up after the second pitching change for RCB. Three more runs in the bottom half gave MHS a comfortable 7-2 lead with just three out remaining that were earned quickly to end the game.
“In those situations [runners in scoring position] we want to hit early in the count, we did discuss how we left some runners on base this game, we want to clean that up but still be aggressive,” MHS head coach Pat Sherman said.
MHS improves to 12-5 on the season, with its latest victory being the fifth in a row. Sherman sees his team taking steps forward and knows they must continue to improve.
“Offensively we are better than our first game we played, we need guys to keep healthy and keep guys improving. On the mound our kids are taking steps forward,” he said. “We’ve played all three sides of the baseball pretty well, the big thing for us is for our pitchers to throw strikes and then get it done in the field.”
The Mohigans will return home on Friday as they host Kiski School out of PA.
Robert C. Byrd
Warne 3 0 1 0 Cook 3 1 1 0 George 2 0 0 1 Sperry 2 0 0 0 Junkins 2 1 0 0 Dodd 2 0 0 0 Thomason 2 0 1 0 Rock 1 0 0 1 Byrd 2 0 0 0
Morgantown
Kennell 4 2 3 2 Fluharty 3 1 2 3 Jamison 3 0 0 0 Poach 3 0 3 1 Galusky 1 0 0 0 Colasante 2 1 0 0 Yanchak 2 0 0 0 Frombach 1 1 1 0 Mazey 1 1 1 0 Thompson 3 1 1 0
RCBHS 0000110 – 2 3 1
MHS 200023X – 7 11 1
WP: Bailey 5.1ip, 3h, 2r, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks
LP: Rock 4.0ip, 7h, 4r, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K