MORGANTOWN — In baseball, sometimes — especially after a particularly ugly loss — you just need to shower well.
That’s the terminology former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle would use after a poor performance from his team, telling them to quickly learn from it, get it behind them and move forward.
Morgantown coach Pat Sherald tried it with his team after they looked pretty uncharacteristic in an 11-4 loss at John Marshall on Monday, and whatever soap his Mohigans used, they definitely should not switch brands. After a solid bounce-back 8-1 win against Wheeling Park on Wednesday, MHS continued their fine all-around team play Friday night on Dale Miller Field at Mylan Park, blanking Spring Mills, 6-0.
Morgantown starter Hunter Dakan, a classy lefthander senior, surrendered a leadoff single to the Cardinals (4-10), but promptly picked the runner off, then in the second pitched his way out of a one-out, first-and-third jam with an infield pop-up and a nifty 3-1 put out with first baseman Noah Fields.
And that was pretty much the sum total of the offense Spring Mills could muster against the second-team all-stater. Dakan used a moving fastball to set up his off-speed stuff, and efficiently mowed down the Cards’ hitters, retiring 13 straight at one point.
“Hunter pitches at a good pace for us,” Sherald said, “and he attacks the zone – 86 pitches in seven innings proves that. When his fastball is down in the zone and moving, he’s able to coax soft contact. It’s just what you expect from a top-of-the-rotation guy, and I think it was the best game he’s pitched for us all year.”
Offensively, while Morgantown (15-4) may not have been especially prolific swinging the bats, they were aggressive on the base paths and opportunistic with situational hitting.
It was small-ball perfection through the first four innings as MHS built their lead. Koa Silvers laced a first-inning single, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and raced home on the catcher’s errant throw.
Up 1-0, the Mohigans doubled their lead in the second when Noah Fields walked, stole second and third — easily grabbed on a fake bunt that drew in the third baseman — and scored on Parker Jeffries’ two-strike sac fly.
Morgantown doubled their advantage again in the third when Weston Mazey walked and stole second and third during Mason Bowers’ four-pitch walk. Silvers lifted a fly to center that scored Mazey and moved Bowers to third, and he scored on Dylan Travinski’s RBI ground out.
In the fourth, Fields walked and scored on the biggest hit of the night, a booming opposite field gap shot double from Nate Wolfe that just missed going out by two feet. In the fifth, Mazey worked another walk, moved up on Bowers’ sac bunt, and came around to score the sixth and final run on Travinski’s two-out RBI single.
That’s six runs on five hits – efficient, aggressive, and productive.
After the game, Sherald was happy with the maturity his team has displayed following Monday’s disappointment.
“We had five errors, and could’ve had 10,” he smiled. “They outhit us 17-6. It was just one of those games, and I was curious to see how they’d react. They came in enthusiastic and ready to work the next day, and it’s really carried over against Park and now Spring Mills, and I’m really proud of their effort and how they’re playing right now. We preach and practice grabbing bags and playing good, fundamental baseball, we’ve done that well the past two games, and we’re certainly looking to keep it going.”
Continuing their scheduled games in the Mon County Baseball & Softball Classic, the Mohigans host a rare morning doubleheader today, facing Jefferson at 9 a.m., followed by Musselman at 11:30 a.m., both games at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
BY MARK SCHRAF
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 6, Spring Mills 0
Spring Mills 000 000 0 – 0
Morgantown 112 110 X – 6
SPRING MILLS (4-10) — Bryce Anders ss-p 3 0 1 0 Trestyn Wysocki 2b 2 0 0 0 JP Sweeney lf 3 0 0 0 Rylan Swartz cf 3 0 1 0 Jacob Cumley p-ss 3 0 0 0 Aiden Eichelberger c 3 0 2 0 Brandon Montgomery 1b 3 0 0 0 Bradley Butts rf 2 0 0 0 Landon Trumpower 3b 2 0 0 0 Totals 24 0 4 0.
MORGANTOWN (15-4) — Mason Bowers cf 1 1 0 0 Koa Silvers 2b 2 1 1 1 Dylan Travinski 3b 3 0 1 2 Eli Boggs rf 3 0 0 0 Noah Fields lf 2 2 1 0 Nate Wolfe 1b 2 0 1 1 Parker Jeffries dh 2 0 0 1 Caleb Nutter c 3 0 0 0 Weston Mazey ss 0 2 0 0 Tristan Milik ph-1b 1 0 1 0 Sammy Watson c 0 0 0 0 Hunter Dakan p 0 0 0 0 Totals 19 6 5 5.
E- SM 2. LOB – SM 4 MHS 2. 2B – MHS 1 (Wolfe). SH – MHS 1 (Bowers).SF – MHS 2 (Silvers, Jeffries
SM – Cumley (L) 3 ip 4 r 3 er 2 h 2 bb 5 so, Anders 3 ip 2 r 1 er 3 h 2 bb 2 so.
MHS – Dakan (W) 7 ip 0 r 0 er 4 h 1 bb 6 so.
SOFTBALL
Morgantown 14, Oak Glen 3
Morgantown 8, Jefferson 3
MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown softball team kicked off the Mon County Classic with a pair of wins on Friday, 14-3 over Oak Glen and 8-3 against Jefferson.
Liz Alsopand Grace Robinson led the offense in game one. Alsop hit a two-run home run and finished with three RBI while Robinson hit a bases-loaded triple to drive in three as well. Emily Peterson, Maddie Wisman and Beth Robinson all had multiple hits.
Wisman was the star of game two, striking out nine in seven innings in the circle while collecting two hits and three RBI at the plate. Peterson again had two hits while Grace Robinson drove in another run.
University 2, Jefferson 1
Cabell Midland 13, University 3
MORGANTOWN — University softball split its first two games of the Mon County Classic, beating Jefferson 2-1 before falling to Cabell Midland 13-3.
In the opener, Kelsie Park supplied a walk-off bunt single to score Lexi Elza in the bottom of the eighth inning. Elza and Sophia Lehosit had two hits with Lehosit and Park driving in a run each.
Lehosit started in the circle, striking out nine over eight one-run innings.
Cabell Midland put up a 10-spot in the top of the sixth to take game two.
Trinity Christian 15, Tygarts Valley 0
(Thursday)
GRANVILLE — The Trinity Christian softball team made one last strong impression before the cutoff for OVAC Tournament seeding, defeating Tygarts Valley 15-0 on Thursday.
Marlo Flecker led Trinity (11-7) with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. She also walked three times, finishing 1-1 at the plate with three RBI and two runs scored.
Peyton Moore also hit a home run, a solo shot in the bottom of the second. Jillian Conn had a pair of RBIs and the Warriors drew 13 walks as a team.
Paige Hopkins pitched the shutout in the circle, allowing just one hit across four innings while striking out eight.
The cutoff for OVAC standings is today. OVAC Tournament semifinals will be played early next week with the championships Friday and Saturday at the I-470 Ballparks in Wheeling.
GIRLS TENNIS
Morgantown 5, Charleston Catholic 2
MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown girls’ tennis team improved to 13-0 on the season with a 5-2 win over visiting Charleston Catholic Friday at Summit Tennis Academy.
The Mohigans picked up two wins in singles and swept doubles play, including a forfeit win in third-flight doubles.
Maya Greenlee (8-0) and Natalia Cassim (8-1) each won in singles and then combined to win 8-0 in top-flight doubles. Grace Forman and Joyce Hu teamed to win 8-4 in second-flight doubles and Ayla McCasi and Isa Millham won via forfeit.
MHS travels to Williamstown today.
BOYS TENNIS
Morgantown 4, Charleston Catholic 3
MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown boys’ tennis team picked up a narrow, 4-3, win over visiting Charleston Catholic on Friday.
Max Chen (8-3) and Solas Chhin-Kreiner (8-1) won in singles for MHS. Chen and Wyatt Abbitt (8-2) and Max Warner and Larry Du (8-2) won in doubles.
