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By CODY NESPOR
Sports Writer
WHEELING -- A team's hitting will not always be there, but its pitching and defense can be. Barnesville coach DJ Butler tells that to his team all the time and it's the exact reason why the Shamrocks will be playing for an OVAC Class 3A title.
No. 4 Barnesville (8-4) scored in the first and seventh innings with very little offense in between, but got a stellar pitching performance from senior Gavin Carpenter and played flawless defense behind him to pull out a 5-1 victory over No. 1 Linsly in an OVAC semifinal game at Holloway Field Saturday morning.
"They're battle-tested. They're used to playing tight games, so they really don't flinch when they get into situations like that," Butler said of his team. "We always say that the bats won't always be there, but the defense and pitching can be. Today was good proof of what that can do for you."
Facing off against Linsly (13-3) starter Brodie Selmon in the top of the first inning, right fielder CJ Hannahs walked, stole second base and raced home when Carpenter sent a ball over the centerfielder's head for a double to score the first run of the game. Carpenter reached home plate when catcher Kyvan Johnson laced a single through the middle and the Shamrocks led 2-0 before Carpenter had even taken the mound.
"We know we can hit, we just have struggled with hitting the last couple of games," Carpenter said. "That's what we're looking for, to get runs, get ahead early and ride it out the rest of the way.
"It's a big confidence booster (to score early)."
Barnesville was fortunate to score those two early runs, because their offense all but disappeared in the middle innings. However, with the way Carpenter was throwing on the mound it did not really matter.
Linsly had baserunners in every inning of Saturday's game but none of them made it even as far as third base as Carpenter spun 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball.
"Gavin was unbelievable on the mound, you couldn't ask for a better performance," Butler said. "He's been clutch for us since he was a freshman and he did it again for us (Saturday)."
Carpenter walked five batters and allowed five hits, but he located his fastball well and used a low curveball to rack up eight strikeouts.
"My fastball was working pretty good, I had good control today and my curveball was picking up as the game went on," Carpenter explained. "I just tried to focus on putting the ball over the plate. I felt like I did pretty good on spotting (the ball) today so my confidence was way up."
Carpenter was even better under pressure as he did not allow a single ball to even leave the infield when runners were on base.
"He just kept making pitches in the clutch," said Linsly coach Jay Cartwright. "In the middle innings we came alive a little bit and had some pressure on him and he was just really effective at making pitches when he had to. We struck out a lot when we had to get balls in play and they made all the plays on defense."
After walking back-to-back hitters in the top of the third, Selmon was replaced on the mound by senior Adam Och, who all but matched Carpenter's effectiveness on the mound. The Shamrocks did not record a single hit from the second to the sixth inning and their only baserunners in that span were the two that walked against Selmon and were stranded by Och.
"He kept us in the game," Cartwright said of Och. "Brodie struggled with his breaking ball command early but he started to throw better. I just wanted to make a switch before it got out of hand."
The Cadets finally chased Carpenter from the mound when Dillon Wilson walked in the bottom of the sixth and Xavier Fankhouser singled to put runners on the corners with two outs.
Kason Powell entered the game for Barnesville and induced a routine flyball to right field to end the threat.
It looked like Barnesville would have to be contempt with its 2-run lead when Och got two quick outs to start the top of the seventh but Marshall Meade reached on an error and Jeremy Fankhouse singled and suddenly, the Shamrocks were in business.
Colton Hines and CJ Hannahs then hit back-to-back RBI singles as the Shamrocks were finally able to add some insurance runs. Hines later scored on a wild pitch and Barnesville led 5-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
"He had tried to work the count and get (Brodie) Selmon out of the game because we knew how good he was," Butler explained. "We decided in that last inning that we were going to be aggressive at the plate and we just got the barrel to the ball and good things happened."
Center fielder Luca DiLorenzo walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Och, but that was all the offense Cadets could muster as Powell got Wilson to pop out to second base to end the game.
"We had not a very good performance (Friday) and our seniors just took control and they kept the dugout up (Saturday)," Butler said. "They kept everybody focused and that's a hat's off to our seniors."
Carpenter pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings on the mound with eight punchouts and an RBI double at the plate. Hines and Hannahs both had RBI singles in the seventh and Johnson had a run-scoring single in the first.
For Linsly, Selmon took the loss, allowing two runs in 2 2/3 innings with six strikeouts. Och allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and an RBI and a double at the dish.
Barnesville will now play Martins Ferry, who defeated Fort Frye 2-1 Saturday, for the OVAC Class 3A title.