MORGANTOWN – It was a perfect day on Friday at Dale Miller Field at Mylan Park for an early evening baseball game between rivals Trinity Christian and Clay-Battelle as part of the 2026 Mon County Mohigan Baseball Classic.
In a pitching-dominated game, Trinity’s Sam Fulk hurled four no-hit innings and struck out 13, but needed Ty Hutson’s help to quell a desperate Cee-Bees rally and preserve the Warriors’ 4-0 shutout victory.
Fulk, a solidly-built righthander, struck out the side in the first, and TCS (5-3) rewarded him with a running game run in the bottom of the inning. Nate Adams walked, hustled to third on an infield error, then trotted home on an errant pick-off throw. Fulk stranded two Cee-Bees; he walked in the second by again striking out three, and the Warriors plated two more runs in the second on a big two-out, two RBI single by Brady Hudson.
Clay-Battelle (3-3) kept lanky freshman starter Maddox Kisner in the game, and he pitched well despite some control issues, giving his team a chance to come back. Trinity tacked on another run in the fifth on Ethan Harley’s RBI single, so Fulk strode to the mound in the seventh, hoping to close it out.
But the Cee-Bees weren’t through fighting. With one out, a bloop double from Cayden Strosnider, Jaxon Huggins’ second hit of the day, and a walk loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate. But Fulk fanned Kisner on a fastball that just caught the outer edge, and then TC coach Wes Hopkins brought in the left-handed Hutson, who nailed down the win with a final strikeout.
After the game, Cee-Bee coach Johnny Coombs acknowledged Fulk’s performance, agreeing that, “he did a good job against us. We just didn’t do a good enough job of putting the bat on the ball. We play a lot of situational ball offensively – but you can’t put pressure on a defense without baserunners. I thought our freshman (Kisner) battled through his control issues out there, and Ethan Foley (who pitched a scoreless sixth in relief) looked really good.
“We’ll go home,” he continued with a smile, “think about this one, talk about it, hopefully learn from it, and be ready to go next game.”
So how did Fulk feel when he saw his coach making his second trip to the mound with two outs in the last inning, knowing that a pitching change was coming?
“Well,” he said, “honestly, I felt like I had a pretty good run going earlier in the game, but with the bases loaded, it was time to hand it off to one of the other guys to finish it out and win the game. That’s all that mattered.”
Hopkins gave his pitcher a big hug after the game and insisted that Fulk is “the best pitcher I’ve worked with in my five years at Trinity”.
“He pounded his fastball in the zone all night, and his mental and physical approach, along with his strong work ethic, really matched his performance today. I’m really proud of him, and all our guys. This was a gritty, good win against a good team, and if we continue to play like this, I think we have every chance to be competitive in regionals. That’s always our goal, even if we try to stay focused on each game as it comes. We’ll take this one, and hopefully build off it.”
The Cee-Bees return to action on Monday at home against Valley at 7:00 p.m., while the Warriors travel to Notre Dame on Tuesday.
BOX SCORE
Clay-Battelle 000 000 0 – 0 4 1
Trinity 120 001 X – 4 4 1
CLAY-BATTELLE (3-3) – Kisner 4 0 0 0 Bane 4 0 0 0 Parker 3 0 0 0 Thel 0 0 0 0 Foley 2 0 0 0 Mercer 3 0 0 0 Huggins 2 0 0 0 Strosnider 3 0 1 0 Huggins 3 0 2 0 Chaney 2 0 0 0 Willard 0 0 0 0 Totals 26 0 3 0
TRINITY (5-3) – Adams 2 2 0 0 Hudson 4 0 1 2 Hopkins 1 1 0 0 Hartley 2 0 1 1 Fulk 3 0 1 0 Murray 3 0 0 0 Yoho 3 0 0 0 Zjima 0 0 0 0 Martin 2 0 0 0 Hutson 1 1 0 0 Totals 21 4 3 3
PITCHING
CB Kisner (L) 5 ip 4 r 3 er 3 h 8 bb 7 so, Foley 1 ip 0 r 0 er 0 h 0 bb 2 so.
TC Fulk (W) 6.2 ip 0 r 0 er 3 h 4 bb 13 so, Hutson (S) 0.1 ip 0 r 0 er 0 h 0 bb 1 so
