MORGANTOWN – No matter what sport, when crunch time looms and your team needs a winning moment, you simply put the ball in the hands of your best player.
That’s exactly what the Trinity Christian High School baseball team did on Wednesday night in the deciding game of the Class A, Region I co-championship against St. Mary’s as senior Parker Hopkins pitched three dominant innings of relief after a lengthy weather delay.
The multi-time all-state selection’s clutch performance led the Warriors to a 9-2 victory and their first-ever Class A state tournament appearance.
He also came through with a massive bases-clearing triple down the right field line in the bottom of the sixth inning that doubled a three-run lead.
“During the weather delay, our coaches brought us over and asked if I was feeling good and if I wanted the ball, and I said absolutely,” Hopkins said. “Being the leader of this team, I have to take responsibility personally and go out and produce. This team has the ability to take a deep breath and reset at the moments we need to, and we all know it takes more than ourselves as individuals to win.”
The Warriors produced one less hit and committed three more errors than the Blue Devils, but limited the visitors from truly threatening in the opening four innings.
That, combined with some early struggles on the mound, negated any chance for St. Mary’s to complete their run through the Region I bracket as the 6-seed.
A five-run bottom of the second for Trinity Christian (with three runs from bases-loaded walks) gave the home team a 5-0 lead entering the fifth inning.
The Blue Devils managed to tally their first run in the top half of the fifth before a weather delay paused the game for nearly an hour with the bases loaded and no outs on the board.
That’s when the TCS coaching staff turned to their senior captain, and he delivered when his team needed him most.
Hopkins earned his first out on a sacrifice fly that brought home a second St. Mary’s run. After a walk loaded the bases, Hopkins settled in and earned consecutive strikeouts, stranding the tying run on first.
After a scoreless sixth inning for both sides, Hopkins helped his cause on the offensive end.
With the bases loaded, Hopkins lasered a pitch down the right field line that rolled all the way to the corner on the wet turf.
The triple cleared the bases and doubled the TCS lead from 5-2 to 8-2 in one swing of the bat.
A pop out and two more K’s in the top of the seventh inning sealed the deal for the Warriors as they punched their ticket to the 2026 WVSSAC Class A baseball tournament on June 6 in Huntington.
“I can’t really put it into words right now,” TCS head coach Wes Hopkins said. “There are so many emotions. The past five years have been building towards this, with the people and players who have bought into what we have been doing. They’ve earned this. I’m so blessed that this school brought me in five years ago, and to be able to celebrate this is like no other feeling.”
BOX SCORE
Trinity Christian 9, St. Mary’s 2
SMHS 000 020 0 – 2 4 0
TCS 050 004 X – 9 3 3
Trinity Christian – Adams 2201 Hutson 2111 Hopkins 3024 Yoho 2001 Fulk 2000 Hartley 2001 Murray 2100 Amandus 2100 Hutson 0201 TOTALS 18 9 3 9
3B: Hopkins
St. Mary’s – Bullman 2000 Burkhammer 3011 Powell 4011 Demoss 3000 Barnard 4010 Maley 2000 Winland 3000 Davis 2010 Pinkerton 2100 TOTALS 25 2 4 2
2B: Powell
W: Hartley 4.0ip 2h 2r 4bb 3k
L: Demoss 1.1ip 0h 4r 3bb 1k
