MORGANTOWN – Just how fast was Morgantown Post 2 pitcher Tristan Milik working on Thursday night?
He threw two complete games in one night.
Milik, a lanky right-hander, helped Post 2 pick up a pair of victories. The first victory came in roughly 15 minutes as Milik and his teammates finished a June 26th contest against visiting Bridgeport Post 68.
That contest was stopped due to lightning with Morgantown and Bridgeport tied 1-1. The game resumed on Thursday and Post 2 quickly finished a 2-1 victory when Parker Jeffries scored from second off a Bridgeport error.
Milik then threw just eight pitches to finish off the contest. He pitched seven innings during the initial contest in June.
“Tristan definitely has mound presence for sure,” Post 2 manager Andy Altemus said. “He works quickly, and he throws strikes. When you do that, your defense is on their toes and they’re ready and they want the ball.”
After completing the June 26th contest, Milik pitched a complete-game one-hitter as Morgantown beat Post 68 5-0.
“Andy told me I might get both of them,” Milik said. “I begged him a little bit and I knew we were going to score runs quickly so I wasn’t going to throw too many pitches in that first game.”
In the regularly scheduled contest, Post 2 scored two runs in the first and three runs in the second and that was more than enough offense for Milik.
Bridgeport only musted a one-out single in the first inning before Milik retired the rest of the Bridgeport lineup without surrendering a hit the rest of the way. He walked four and struck out five in the contest.
“I knew that I just needed to attack them,” Milik said. “I was talking with my catcher and told them that we needed to keep them off balance and keep the guessing.”
Even when Milik ran into a little bit of trouble during the contest with a 3-0 count or a lead-off walk, he was able to compose himself and even retired the final eight Bridgeport batters in order.
“I try to work fast,” Milik said. “But if I do get a little shaky or nervous, Andy will have me step off the mound, take a breath and get back on it.”
Post 2’s offense was paced by Gabe Templeton as he had two of the four hits for Morgantown including a triple and a run scored.
Morgantown grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first when Cody Thomas slugged a one-run double that bounced over the centerfield fence and then Caleb Cottle scored Thomas a fielder’s choice.
The final three runs were scored in the second inning as Thomas drew a bases-loaded walk, Tommy Montague hit an RBI sacrifice fly to right field and Gunner Riley added an RBI single.
“We came out hot,” Altamus said of his offense. “We want to score every inning but (Bridgeport) is a good team. Scoring five is great, but we know we need to keep chipping away and keep scoring, especially in the postseason.”
Post 2 (25-5) has now won 14 straight games and heads into the Area tournament held at West Virginia Wesleyan in Buckhannon. Morgantown will be the No. 1 seed and awaits the winner of the No. 4 versus No. 5 seed game. Post 2’s first game in the tournament will be 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“We want to win every game,” Altamus said. “But we need to worry about the next game and not even worry about the one after that.”
The top two teams in the Area tournament advance to the state Legion tournament.
By ERIC HERTER/For The Dominion Post
BOX SCORE
Morgantown Post 2 5, Bridgeport Post 68 0
Post 68 000 000 0 – 0 1 2
Post 2 230 000 x – 5 4 0Post 68 – Pierce 2 0 0 0, Gould 1 0 0 0, Rohrig 2 0 0 0, Biafore 2 0 1 0, D. Duvall 2 0 0 0, Goodwin 1 0 0 0, Blake 3 0 0 0, Via 1 0 0 0, Lively 2 0 0 0, Lough 3 0 0 0, Michaelis 0 0 0 0, J. Duvall 1 0 0 0, Viani 1 0 0 0. Totals 21 0 1 0.
Post 2 – Riley 3 2 1 1, Campbell 2 0 0 0, Thomas 2 1 1 2, Montague 1 0 0 1, Cottle 3 0 0 1, Walters 3 0 0 0, Travinski 3 0 0 0, Cash 2 1 0 0, Templeton 3 1 2 0. Totals: 22 5 4 5.
3B – Templeton
WP – Milik 7ip 1h 0r 0er 4bb 5k
LP – J. Duvall 1.1ip 3h 5r 4er 5bb 1k
