WEIRTON — The Weir baseball team gave up too many free bases against Linsly, and the Cadets were able to take advantage en route to defeating the Red Riders.

Linsly led from the outset as the Cadets tallied a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, and the visitors from Ohio County ended up pulling away for a 10-2 victory against Weir Wednesday evening on the road.

“We gave them 13 bases with walks and hit batters and errors,” Weir (2-1) head coach Dave Cowden said. “You can’t do that and win a game against a quality opponent. They hit the ball. They are well coached. They hit the baseball. We hit flyballs, and they hit line drives.

“We did not pitch well, we did not play good defense and we did not hit. You have to do two of those three to win games, and we went 0 for 3. You have to give them credit. Their centerfielder is a really-nice player. We tracked down some shots that I didn’t think he would be able to get to. I don’t want to take anything away from them. We didn’t play well.”

The visitors built an 8-1 advantage going into the bottom of the fifth before the hosts tacked on their second run of the game. Linsly tallied two more runs in the seventh to account for the final score.

The Cadets outhit the Red Riders, 10-7, in the ballgame. The Cadets collected six extra-base hits in the win, while Weir recorded one.

“We did not have enough hard hit balls,” Cowden said. “They put the ball in play. Like I said, we hit pop-ups, and they hit line drives.”

Vinny Gorence went the distance on the mound to record the victory for the Cadets. He struck out three while walking one.

The Red Riders used four pitchers in the game. Cayden Braswell started on the mound, and he was saddled with the loss. Braswell struck out four and walked three in his 1 1/3 innings of work. He was replaced with one out in the second by Aleks Zanieski, who struck out three while walking two in his 1 2/3 innings of relief work. Nick DiMatteis pitched the next 2 2/3 innings striking out one and walking three before giving way to Grant Upright, who retired the lone batter he faced on a groundout to shortstop.

Offensively for Linsly, Preston Hartley tallied a single, two doubles and two RBI, Tucker Doty tallied two doubles and three RBI and Dominic Fato delivered a single, triple and two RBI. Also, Jaxon Murray recorded two singles and three RBI, while Chris Upton produced a double.

For Weir, Teddy Glyptis contributed a single and a double, Zanieski and Braswell each finished with two singles and Mathew Geer chipped in with a base hit. Also, Nick DiMatteis had the lone RBI for Weir on a sacrifice fly.

“We are a good hitting team,” Cowden said. “We just haven’t hit our stride yet. We just need more reps.”

Murray singled home a pair of runs in the first to give Linsly an early 2-0 lead before Weir answered with a run on the sacrifice fly by DiMatteis in the home half of the inning.

Fato plated a pair with a single in the second, and Murray brought home his team’s fifth run with his second single of the game. Hartley an RBI double in the fourth to increase the Cadets’ advantage to 6-1 before Doty delivered a two-run double in the fifth to extend the lead out to 8-1.

The boys in white cut into their deficit with a run on a throwing error in the fifth, but Doty doubled home a run in the seventh before Hartley singled home another to account for the final score.

Both teams are scheduled to play games today. Weir is slated to play Clay-Battelle at 5 p.m. at home, while Linsly will play Parkersburg South at 5 p.m. on the road.

Linsly 10, Weir 2

Linsly 230 120 2 – 10 10 3

Weir   100 010 0 – 2 7 0 

LINSLY (1-1-1): Gorence WP (3K, 1BB) and Hartley. Upton D; Fato S, T, 2RBI; Murray 2S, 3RBI; Doty 2D, 3RBI; Hartley S, 2D, 2RBI. 

WEIR (2-1): Braswell LP (1 1/3IP, 4K, 3BB), Zanieski (1 2/3IP, 3K, 2BB), DiMatteis (3 2/3IP, 1K, 3BB), Upright (1/3IP, 0K, 0BB) and Williamson. Glyptis S, D; Geer S; Zanieski 2S; Braswell 2S; DiMatteis RBI.