Wheeling Central stops Madonna
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WEIRTON -- When you're hot, you're hot. The Wheeling Central baseball team resembles that statement.
Playing their seventh game in eight days -- the last five being elimination contests -- the Maroon Knights had had enough. Scoring 11 runs with two outs and collecting 15 hits, they rolled to a 14-1 victory over homestanding Madonna in the championship game of the W.Va. Class A Section I, Region I tournament at sun-splashed Edwin J. Bowman Field.
"Since the Seton LaSalle game, we've really started hitting the baseball," Wheeling Central head coach Jason Rowe said. "If we hit the ball, we can stay with anyone. We've got the pitching.
"We're getting hot at the right time of the season."
With the lop-sided victory, the Maroon Knights' reward is No. 1 ranked Tyler Consolidated next Monday in Middlebourne.
"We've seen Tyler (Consolidated) this year. They've got two really good pitchers, but we're going to go down there and battle just like we did in the sectional."
The win also avenged the 4-3 walk-off loss to the Blue Dons (11-15) in the second game of the sectional, thus forcing Maroon Knights to win five straight games with their backs to the wall. They came through in fine fashion with triumphs over Paden City, Magnolia, Cameron and Madonna twice.
"I told the guys we were going to be aggressive on the bases today," Rowe noted. "There were a couple of times when I sent guys and it was going to a bang-bang play, but I took a chance and it worked out for us."
Winning pitcher Seth Cover singled home younger brother Brayden with two outs in the first and, after Koy Lipinski dropped a single into shallow center, Carson Kuhns drilled a two-run double over the center fielder's head for a 3-1 lead.
Wheeling Central upped the margin to 5-0 in the third as Seth Cover reached on an error leading off. Courtesy runner Andy Bailer circled the bases when Lipinski tripled to left-center for a 4-0 reading. Courtesy runner Drew Murray raced home when Kuhns lifted a sacrifice fly to center as the lead increased to 5-0.
Madonna recorded its lone run -- unearned -- in the bottom of the third as Grant Wilharm reached on an error and went to third on a single by David Connors. However, when the relay throw got away in shallow right, Wilharm raced home.
Seth Cover drove in Braxton Billick with a sacrifice fly in the fourth before Wheeling Central broke it wide-open with eight runs on a like number of hits in the fifth for a 14-1 margin.
Kuhns singled to start the explosion and also doubled in the final run. Seth Cover capped his fine outing with a two-run single while Billick, Brayden Cover and Lipinski all had RBI singles.
"We've been preaching to the kids to have good at bats. Don't get 0-1 or 0-2, swing the bat. This bunch of kids sits back and hits the ball," Rowe said. "This is a good win for us.
Seth Cover and Kuhns each had three hits and four RBI, with Kuhns belting a pair of doubles. Lipinski missed the cycle by a home run and was one of three Maroon Knights that accumulated two RBI, with Billick and Brayden Cover being the other two. Luke Tiu also singled twice from the No. 9 spot in the order.
"It's literally momentum right now," Kuhns said. "The team's hot. We're hot. You feel good, you swing good. It's all of us. It takes a group effort and we've definitely got it. If we keep swinging this way, no one is going to stop us."
On the mound, Seth Cover delivered a masterful performance with three strikeouts and a pair of walks. However, he only yielded three hits and threw 74 pitches, of which 45 were strikes. He threw 13 first-pitch strikes to 21 batters.
"We've got some young arms that have really come through for us," Rowe added. "On Saturday, freshman Brayden Cover gave us an outstanding effort, and then today, his older brother, Seth, turned in an exceptional effort.
Luke Amaismeier, the losing pitcher, had a double in the first inning when the Blue Dons loaded the bases with two outs on back-to-back walks, but Wheeling Central's sophomore ace got a routine fly to center.
"It doesn't matter what you do, you have to put the bat on the ball," Madonna head coach Jeff Baire stressed. "We only had three hits. You need to get more than that to win big games. For some reason we didn't come ready to play today and Wheeling Central did.
"That's the way it works in baseball."
BASEBALL
W.Va. Class A Section I, Region I
Championship Game
(at Edwin J. Bowman Field, Weirton)
Wheeling Central 14, Madonna 1, 5 inn.
Whg Central 302 18 - 14 15 2
Madonna 001 00 - 1 3 4
WC-S. Cover wp (3K, 2BB) and Lipinski; Billick S, rbi; B. Cover 2S, 2rbi; Hatfield 2S; S. Cover 2S, SF, 4rbi; Lipinski S, D, T, 2rbi; Kuhns S, 2D, 4rbi; Sutphin rbi; Tiu 2S
M-Amaismeier lp (2K, 1BB), Parker (5), (0K, 0BB), Grishkevich (5), (0K, 3BB) and Gontas, Hair (5); Amaismeier D