MORGANTOWN – Morgantown and University High met on the baseball diamond for the first time in 2026 on Wednesday evening at Shilling Field in an early-season matchup of unbeaten rivals.
MHS senior pitcher Slade Barton led the Mohigans to a 10-0 shutout victory in five innings over the Hawks with 13 strikeouts in a no-hit effort.
Barton needed only 72 pitches to earn his second win of the season in five games for MHS (5-0), who saw junior Maddox Boggs put on his own impressive performance on the bump on Tuesday night, throwing a complete game with only two hits allowed and seven strikeouts against Wheeling Park.
“We’ve been hitting the ball well early in the season, and we worked all game today,” MHS assistant coach Tim Bradley said in head coach Pat Sherald’s absence. “Great approaches, great at-bats today. We are producing from top to bottom, and when you have someone like Slade on the mound, that can only help the cause.”
Junior Luca Mezzanotte was 2 for 3 with three RBI and a run scored for the Mohigans. Sophomore Quincy Joseph also tallied a pair of hits, and senior Mason Bowers earned 3 RBI with a bases-clearing double in an eight-run top of the first inning for MHS.
UHS (3-1) didn’t earn a hit offensively, but freshman Colton Velickoff impressed on the mound in a relief effort to give his team a chance to extend the game, throwing 2.2 innings with only one hit allowed and three Ks.
After a groundout by MHS senior Brayden Gorby started the game, the Mohigans exploded for eight runs in the top half of the first.
A pair of walks allowed Mezzanotte to bring in the first two runs on a single to center field.
Junior Kane Williams doubled, followed by back-to-back RBI singles by Joseph and junior Lincoln Thornton as MHS took a 4-0 lead.
Consecutive walks brought home the fifth run before the second out was earned by UHS, and before the Hawks got out of the inning, Bowers laced a pitch to center field with the bases loaded, scoring three more runs.
MHS added two late runs as Barton continuously controlled the game on the mound for his team.
“We’ve been playing well as a unit early on,” Barton said. “That’s so important for a baseball team to show. It’s great to see us winning in different ways already, but we’ve also got to push through adversity to be able to succeed at a high level. Going through that together is the most important part.”
MHS will have a week off before heading south for three games next week with Spring Valley, Cabell Midland, and Hurricane.
The Hawks will travel to Washington on Friday before a doubleheader with Jefferson on Saturday.
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 10, University 0
MHS 802 00X X – 10 8 0
UHS 000 00X X – 0 0 2
Morgantown (5-0) – Gorby 3100 Bowers 1113 Bredeson 1100 Mezzanotte 3123 Williams 3110 Joseph 3021 Thornton 3111 Shinn 2100 Nipper 2211 Campbell 1000 Adrian 1000
2B: Williams, Joseph, Nipper
SB: Gorby, Bowers, Bredeson
University (3-1) – Shuba 2000 Cash 2000 Velickoff 2000 Jenkins 2000 Templeton 2000 Waldo 1000 Alexander 1000 White 2000 Solomon 1000
WP: Barton 5.0ip 0h 0r 1bb 13k
LP: Enos .1ip 4h 8r (7er) 4bb 0k
