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Weir baseball team roughed up by Linsly

WHEELING — Eli Petho threw a one-hitter, and Linsly’s first seven batters reached base in a seven-run first inning that propelled the Cadets to a 10-0, five-inning high school baseball triumph against Weir High on Tuesday at Holloway Field.

An early-season battle of unbeatens quickly became a runaway for the hosts, as Linsly chased Red Rider starter Cody Tate, who lasted just a third of an inning.

All told, 11 batters came to the plate for the Cadets in the opening frame, one that saw Linsly record four hits and take advantage of two Weir High errors.

“We played very well,” said veteran Linsly head coach Jay Cartwright, whose team improved to 2-0. “Weir always competes, and we expected them to.

“We were able to get some timely bunts down in that first inning, which was huge. Their (pitcher) struggled with his control, and we took advantage of it. We were able to get some balls in play in some two-strike situations and with men at the corners. And, early in the season, that’s what you have to do.”

Zac Taylor and Hunter Kelley ripped back-to-back RBI singles as part of the early Cadet barrage, which reached 5-0 before the Red Riders recorded an out.

Joe Zaccrey later walked in a run before Lee Cartwright capped the inning’s scoring with a sac fly to right.

“We misplayed a couple of balls, had a few errors and the ball found a way to drop a few times,” said Jason Angle, whose team opened the season Saturday by sweeping a twinbill against East Fairmont. “But, this was a complete and total non-performance at the plate. I don’t know if we were trying to yank it down the line or pull it instead of fighting it off, but we weren’t making very good contact.”

That was all due to Petho, who fanned eight — including seven straight at one point — in producing his second solid performance of the young season.

Petho allowed three baserunners, and Brodie McUmar had the only hit, a single, in the first. The others came via a walk in the third a hit batsman an inning later.

“He was huge,” coach Cartwright said of the senior, who also logged a few innings of the Cadets’ season-opening 19-2 pasting of Madonna on Friday. “He was begging for the ball. I could tell he was ready to go. We just couldn’t drag him off the mound. He wanted to finish, and he did.”

Of the 17 batters Petho faced, only two got the ball out of the infield.

“He seemed to be throwing a lot of fastballs on the outside of the plate,” Angle said.

Linsly got some insurance in the second when Jon Milton belted a two-out RBI double, scoring Kelley. Alex Papadimitrov provided the winning RBI in the fifth — a two-run frame for the Cadets, who’ve scored 29 runs in their first two games.

“We’re putting the ball in play, and we can swing the bats up and down the lineup,” coach Cartwright said. “It doesn’t really matter what order I put those guys, they all can produce. It’s been a solid offensive performance thus far.”

Linsly 10, Weir High 0

Weir High 0-0-0 0-0 — 0 -1-2

Linsly 7-1-0 0-2 — 10-8-0

WEIR HIGH: Tate lp (0K, 0BB), DiMatteis (1) (1K, 1BB), Curtis (5) (1K, 2BB) and McUmar.

LINSLY: Petho wp (8K, 1BB) and Taylor. Papaimitriou 2S, rbi; Taylor 2S, rbi; Kelly D, S, rbi; Milton D, rbi; Zaccrey rbi; Cartwright rbi.

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