MORGANTOWN — Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver famously insisted “the key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three-run homers.”
For the Morgantown baseball team, two out of three ain’t bad — especially if the power is replaced by timely hitting and a solid approach at the plate. That winning combination led to a squeaky clean, 10-0 five-inning victory over Brooke in the Mohigans’ sectional tournament opener last night on Dale Miller Field at Mylan Park.
Morgantown (23-7, 1-0 in the Sectional) jumped on BHS lefty starter Andrew Murdock in the first inning. Mason Bowers ripped a leadoff single, Koa Silvers followed with a sac bunt that he beat out for a hit. Tristan Milik, Eli Boggs, and Parker Jeffries followed with RBI singles, and a walk loaded the bases for Weston Mazey, who drove in a pair with a sharp, two-out single off the shortstop’s glove. MHS wasn’t done, either, as Bowers coaxed a walk to set up Silvers’ two-RBI single. In all, 13 men came to the plate, leading to a commanding 7-0 MHS advantage.
MHS starter Dylan Travinski held up his end of the equation despite some uncharacteristic control issues, as he tossed 3 2/3 innings of two-hit, no run ball — and helped himself with a two-run single and run scored in the third. The sturdy, steady righthander surrendered two singles in the first, three walks in the third, and another two in the fourth before Maddox Bowers relieved him and quickly dispatched the Bruins (12-9, 0-1) with four quick outs on just 15 pitches to close it out.
“I had some command issues for sure,” Travinski said with a smile after the game. “I need to make sure I take a rosin bag out there with me next time, because I was having some trouble with my grip. It’s pretty great when your hitters put up seven runs early, so there was no pressure — just pitch to contact, and let my defense do their thing. That’s why it was a little frustrating to give a few free passes, but we got the job done when we needed it.”
MHS manager Pat Sherald was equally proud of his No. 1 starter and his offense.
“We put Dylan out there in Game 1 for a reason,” he said. “He’s a big-game pitcher, and he battled and made the pitches he needed to. And we were able to limit him to 70 pitches, which makes him available on Friday if we need him. Plus Maddow kept his pitch count low as well. In a double-elimination tournament like this, closing out games quickly is definitely to your advantage.
Offensively, what you saw throughout our line-up is what we’ve done all year,” he continued. “When we limit our strikeouts — we only had one tonight — and we work counts and have good, competitive at-bats, and we are opportunistic on the bases, we can be a good offense. And it helps so much to be strong up the middle defensively. With Caleb (Nutter) behind the plate, Weston and Koa at short and second, and Mason in center, that’s just a solid core in the middle of the diamond that’s pretty rare at the high school level.”
When asked about John Marshall, next up for his team, Sherald acknowledged the challenge.
“We split our two games this year,” he explained. “They’re very well coached, and much improved. But our philosophy is to take care of things in our own dugout. If we play to our capabilities, I like our chances.”
The top-seeded Mohigans continue their quest for the Region 1 Section 1 title at home Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against John Marshall.
BOX SCORE
Brooke 000 00 – 0
Morgantown 703 0X – 10
BROOKE (12-9, 0-1)
Raymond DeFranco ss 2 0 0 0 Owen Petrella 1b 2 0 1 0 Carson Lauttamus dh 2 0 1 0 Braelyn Sperringer cf 3 0 0 0 Peyton Toepfer 2b 2 0 0 0 Anthony Bachinski lf 1 0 0 0 Garrett Hornick 3b 1 0 0 0 Gavin Moore rf 1 0 0 0 Hunter Mozinger c 1 0 0 0 Andrew Murdock p 0 0 0 0 Parker McMahon p 0 0 0 0 Totals 15 0 2 0.
MORGANTOWN (23-7, 1-0)
Mason Bowers cf 3 1 2 0 Koa Silvers 2b 2 2 2 2 Dylan Travinski p-dh 2 2 1 2 Tristan Milik 3b 2 0 1 2 Eli Boggs lf 3 1 3 1 Nate Wolfe 1b 3 1 0 0 Parker Jeffries rf 2 1 1 1 Caleb Nutter c 1 1 0 0 Weston Mazey ss 3 1 1 2 Maddox Bowers p 0 0 0 0 Totals 21 10 11 10.
E- BHS 1. LOB – BHS 8 MHS 6. SH – BHS 1 (Mozingo). SF – MHS 1 (Milik)
BHS – Murdock (L) 0.2 ip 7 r 7 er 7 h 3 bb 0 so, McMahon 3.1 ip 3 r 3 er 4 h 2 bb 1 so.
MHS – Travinski (W) 3.2 ip 0 r 0 er 2 h 6 bb 6 so, M. Bowers 1.1 ip 0 r 0 er 0 h 0 bb 2 so.
