Sports Writer

WHEELING — Early mistakes put Wheeling Central behind the eight ball early and the Maroon Knights never quite recovered as they fell to Central Crossing 12-3 at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Sports Complex Wednesday evening.

Crossing, visiting from Grove City, Ohio, took a tour of the Ohio Valley this week, also playing Shadyside Tuesday and John Marshall earlier in the day Wednesday.

The Comets scored five times in the top of the first, taking advantage of some shaky command by Central (3-2) starter Gary Hatfield and a couple of defensive miscuses in the field.

The first two batters reached on a walk and single, then Marquis Loring laid down a bunt that scored a run after a bad throw landed the ball in right field.

Central coach Jason Rowe thought that mistake was what opened the door for Crossing.

“We couldn’t field a bunt and we had issues with that last year,” Rowe said. “That’s what started a rally for them, they got a walk, got another guy on then bunted and we threw it into right field.”

Another run scored one batter later when a ball was mis-played in centerfield. Chance Woods plated two runs a couple of batters later with a single up the middle and a late throw from the shortstop allowed a fifth run to score during the next at-bat.

Central got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Ben Foster hit a hard ground ball to second that enabled Hatfield, who had doubled, to scamper home.

The Comets got right back to work in the top of the second, however, as they scored three straight runs on a walk, two singles and a triple by Lucas Miller.

Hatfield was replaced by Peyton Hildebrand to start the third inning after giving up eight runs in two innings.

“He got behind on a few counts, but he pitched really well,” Rowe said. “He was just up against a really good team from Central Crossing.”

Hildebrand steadied the ship — allowing just one run in three innings — but Central’s bats went cold as the Knights went hitless in the second, third and fourth.

“I wanted to see what he could do in that situation,” Rowe said of Hildebrand. “He’s probably going to be our closer this year and he came in and pitched really well. I was very happy.”

While Central had baserunners in every inning except one, Rowe said his hitters were not choosing the right moments to be aggressive.

“We were being aggressive with bad pitches,” Rowe explained. The Knights had just three hits going into the fifth inning. “Then we started taking good at bats and started hitting the ball really well.”

Hildebrand doubled in Foster and Michael Toepfer to add two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but by then Crossing’s lead was 9-3.

Crossing added three runs in the top of the seventh off of junior Carson Kuhns, who had struck out the side in the sixth.

Hildebrand finished with a double and two RBI while Foster had a single, double and RBI and Hatfield and Toepfer both had a single and double.

Shane Baas got the win for Central Crossing, allowing one run in three innings of work while striking out five. He was relieved by Brayden Campbell, who pitched the final four innings.

Woods had two singles and three RBI while Loring had two singles, a double and two RBI.

Wheeling Central will stay home and host Steubenville Central this afternoon.

Central Crossing 12, Wheeling Central 3

CC — Bass wp (5K, 1BB), Campbell (4) (4K, 1BB) and Poor. Amon S, RBI; Loring 2S, D, RBI; Baas S, RBI; Miller T, RBI; Woods 2S, 3RBI.

WCC — Hatfield lp (1K, 2BB), Hildebrand (3) (3K, 2BB), Kuhns (6) (3K, 2BB) and Murray and Ondrejko. Hatfield S, D; M. Toepfer S, D; Foster S, D, RBI; Hildebrand D, 2RBI.

CC 5-3-0 0-1-0 3 — 12 9 2

WCC 1-0-0 0-2-0 0 — 3 7 2