MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown Post 2 baseball team dropped its opening game in the annual WAJR wooden bat classic to Wheeling Post 1, 11-6, on Friday night under the lights at Dale Miller Field.
Some mental errors baserunning and fielding errors by Post 2(1-1) allowed the visitors to take some easy bases and capitalize with some timely hitting, scoring the 11 runs on 10 hits as a team.
“A lot of errors tonight, so it’s a little frustrating,” head coach Andy Altemus said after the game. “The free-base battle was not good and you never want to lose that battle.”
Three runs came early in the top of the second opened the scoring for Wheeling and the game on one base hit and two fielding errors by the Post 2 infield that all led to runs.
Wheeling pitcher Jack Selmon worked each Post 2 batter hard and didn’t allow the home offense to gain any momentum on the night, using an effective pitch sequence throughout the game that included a sweeping curveball that was giving batters fits.
Despite the performance by Selmon, Post 2 did earn nine hits on the night, including two by shortstop Daniel Grabo, who has gotten of to a hot start on offense to begin the summer. He is 5 for 6 at the plate with three singles, two doubles and a pair of RBI. Gabe Templeton also earned a pair of hits on the night, one double and one triple.
“Dan is swinging the bat well for sure,” Altemus said. “He also came in and pitched well a little tonight so we will hope he can continue to do that going forward.”
The hosts managed to add two runs to cut the lead to just one in the bottom of the third inning, but once again, Wheeling came back with an answer with another three-run inning that extended the lead to 6-2 after four frames played. It had three innings of three or more runs in the game.
A late rally in the seventh inning of three runs was cut short on a strikeout by Tyler Furbee that ended the game.
Post 2 will have a very quick turnaround with first pitch set for 9:00 a.m. Saturday at Dale Miller Field against Potomac Valley.
Wheeling Post 1 11, Morgantown Post 2 6
Wheeling 030 314 0 – 11 10 2
Morgantown 001 100 3 – 5 9 3
Wheeling – Taylor 3232, Marsh 5134, Cover 4010, Prather 4000, Murray 4110, Simon 3110, Selmon 3211, Wilson 2300, Jamison 4100
2B: Marsh
3B: Taylor
Morgantown – Grabo 3021, Latocha 4111, Bailey 4010, Templeton 4222, Montague 0000, Furbee 3000, McNew 2010, Dorkins 3000, Cash 2110, Smolkin 3110
2B: Templeton, Grabo
3B: Templeton
WP: Selmon 5.2ip 8h 2r 2bb 5k
LP: Tingler 3.2ip 6h 6r 5bb 5k
