HUNTINGTON – In 2024, the Morgantown High School baseball team fell to eventual state champion Cabell Midland in the Class AAA semifinals.
Fast forward two years to Wednesday at Jack Cook Field in Huntington in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Class AAAA tournament, as the 2nd-seeded Mohigans avenged their 2024 defeat to advance to the semifinals on Friday evening.
MHS starting pitcher Maddox Boggs tossed a complete-game, two-hit shutout, his second against the Knights this season (the first being a five-hit shutout). He walked only one batter and struck out five.
“He’s a competitor,” MHS head coach Pat Sherald said. “He’s the type of guy you just give the ball to, and you let him drive the bus for you. He’s going to go out and compete every start. I always joke that on gamedays he would rather punch you in the face than say hello. He’s a great kid and the ultimate competitor.”
Cabell Midland starter Owen Maynard had a solid start himself, going the distance with six hits given up and six strikeouts. But runs were scarce in the quarterfinal contest.
The lone run-scoring play came in the bottom of the third inning when MHS senior Koa Silvers laced a ball into the gap in left-center field that rolled all the way to the wall for a two-RBI triple.
“We are fortunate to have some athleticism,” Sherald said. “Silvers made some great plays for us today and came up with a huge hit for us when we needed it the most.”
Kai Henkins and Mason Bowers rounded the bases to give the Mohigand a 2-0 lead, which was all Boggs needed to finish the job as his defense didn’t commit an error.
“That was a heavyweight fight for seven innings,” Sherald said. “Fortunately, we were able to come up and get that big hit from Koa. Really proud of our effort. It is a shame that one team has to lose this game. That’s a hell of a team right there that competed with us.”
With the win, Morgantown will advance to play No. 3 Hurricane in the semifinals on Friday. MHS fell to the Redskins in the state championship in 2025 and has the chance to earn wins against the last two teams that eliminated them over the past two years.
The Class AAAA semifinals will begin on Friday at 5 p.m. at Jack Cook Field in Huntington with the first matchup featuring top-seeded George Washington squaring off with No. 5 Jefferson.
Morgantown and Hurricane will begin 50 minutes after the first contest concludes.
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 2, Cabell Midland 0
CMHS 000 000 0 – 0 5 1
MHS 002 000 X – 2 6 0
Cabell Midland – McGinnis 3010 LaFon 2000 Wing 3010 Johnson 3010 Wallace 3010 Hinkle 3010 Hunt 3000 Harbert 3000 Workman 3000 TOTALS 26 0 5 0
2B: Wallace, McGinnis
Morgantown – Gorby 3010 Bowers 2110 Silvers 3012 Nipper 3000 Thornton 3000 Bredeson 2010 Williams 3000 Mezzanotte 1010 Henkins 2110 TOTALS 22 2 6 2
3B: Silvers
W: Boggs 7.0ip 5h 0r 1b 5k
L: Maynard 6.0ip 6h 2er 1bb 6k
