MORGANTOWN – It’s a safe bet that in the very first baseball game ever played, the losing team stranded more runners on base than the winning team did.
Way back then, the manager of the losing team had no idea how many of his future brethren would bemoan his same fate.
On Wednesday at Shilling Field, the University High School nine learned that exact lesson as the Hawks stranded 13 runners in a 14-8 loss to visiting Linsly.
Seven of those runners were stranded in scoring position, leaving first-year head coach Travis Renner scratching his head just like his predecessors.
“The opportunity was really there to get that game,” Renner said. “It was kind of back and forth for a couple of innings, but we didn’t have the opportunity hits that we needed with guys in scoring position. We were getting guys on, we were moving them over, we just couldn’t drive them in today.”
The first inning was a perfect example of University’s struggles on Wednesday.
UHS trailed 1-0 entering the frame and tied the game as leadoff hitter Tommy Montague scored when Daniel Grabo reached on an error. The Hawks had the bases loaded with no outs, but two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice left the bases full in a 1-1 contest.
“You look back at the bottom of the first inning, and we had the bases loaded with nobody out,” Renner said. “We come across with just one run and that’s just not ideal.”
University pushed its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second as Max Cash and Brance McCune each picked up RBIs. The Hawks held a 5-2 lead after three, thanks to an RBI double by Montague and an RBI groundout off the bat of Curtis Quarrick.
Junior starting pitcher James Bryner held the Cadets offense in check for the first three innings, but Linsly was able to tie the game at five in the fourth inning when Rocco Polina had a two-run single, and Taiga Goto added a one-run single.
Bryner finished with four innings pitched, allowed eight hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out three.
“James was in a similar situation last week against Linsly, and it just kind of mapped out that he would face them again,” Renner said. “He did his job last time as well until about the same spot in the game, and they started to hit him. We knew they were a good fastball-hitting team, so we turned to the relievers and trusted the guys with some off-speed stuff to get them off balance. We thought we had it there for a second, but a couple of walks really hurt us.”
The Hawks (4-5) did grab the lead one more time as an RBI triple from Brock Shuba and a perfectly placed suicide squeeze bunt by Colson Jenkins gave UHS a 7-5 lead through four innings.
However, the Cadets scored three runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to take command of the contest. A parade of four UHS relievers could not stop the Linsly offense, and UHS mustered just one more run the rest of the way.
Cash led the Hawks with three hits, while McCune, Grabo, and Quarrick each had two hits. Dom Fato led the Cadets’ offense with three hits, while Chris Upton, Evan Zido, and Goto each had two hits.
UHS returns to action today when it travels across the Mylan Park complex to face rival Morgantown at 5 p.m. on Dale Miller Field. The Hawks also host John Marshall on Friday for a 5 p.m. contest.
— Story by Eric Herter
Box score
LINSLY
Upton 4 4 2 0, Zido 4 0 1 3, Murray 2 1 1 3, Gessler 4 1 0 1, Gorence 4 2 1 0, Fato 4 2 3 3, Goto 4 2 2 2, Jones 3 1 0 0, Paolina 3 1 1 2. Totals 32 14 12 14.
UNIVERSITY (4-5)
Montague 3 2 1 1, Cash 4 0 3 1, McCune 3 0 2 2, Grabo 4 1 2 1, Alexander 4 0 0 0, Deiriggi 0 0 0 0, Br. Shuba 5 1 1 1, Jenkins 3 1 1 1, Quarrick 4 1 2 1, Ba. Shuba 3 2 1 0. Totals: 33 8 13 8.
2B: Linsly: Fato 2, Upton. UHS: Jenkins, Grabo, Montague. 3B: UHS – Br. Shuba.
Pitching
WP – Zido 1.1ip 5 h 2r 2er 0bb 0k. LP – Kennison 0.2ip 0h 3r 0er 2bb 1k. S – Murray 2.2ip 2h 1r 1er 1bb 3k
