Photo by Cody Nespor Wheeling Park starter Gian Degenova delivers a pitch during Friday’s OVAC Class 5A Championship against Morgantown at Edison High School.

By CODY NESPOR

Sports Writer

RICHMOND — Taking advantage of your opportunities is important in many aspects of one’s life, and baseball is no different.

In the OVAC Class 5A Championship played at the brand-new facilities at Edison High School, the team that cashed in on its opportunities ended the night with a trophy, while the team that didn’t went home empty-handed.

Morgantown was the team that won, defeating defending champion Wheeling Park by a final score of 8-2.

The Mohigans (16-5) scored in every inning where they got a runner on base. Park (8-7) meanwhile left seven runners stranded.

“Anytime you have an opportunity to score and you take advantage of it, it feels really good,” said acting Morgantown coach Brandon Wisman. “We didn’t waste too many opportunities today and that’s how you win. You can’t waste your opportunities and we didn’t.”

Morgantown’s first opportunity to score came right away as Aaron Jamison’s automatic double put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the first inning. Jeffrey Poach’s single scored both runners and gave the Mohigans a 2-0 advantage.

“Getting a head start is always a big, big advantage,” Wisman said. “Giving your pitcher a two-run lead before he even throws a pitch is a very big boost in confidence.”

Not that Morgantown starter Maddox Bauers needed the confidence boost, as he cruised through three scoreless innings to begin his outing. When runners did get on, Bauers appeared to kick into high gear as he induced double plays in both the third and fourth innings.

“Their guy pitched a good game,” said Park coach Steve Myers. “We had a few opportunities and just weren’t able to take advantage of them.”

Morgantown started to add insurance runs in the top of the fourth as Weston Mazey’s sacrifice fly made it a 3-0 lead.

Park broke through in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Grant Simon, but a double play limited what they could do.

Morgantown began to pull away in the top of the fifth, with RBIs from Poach, Caleb Cottle and Ty Galusky.

“They hit the ball when they had to,” Myers said. “They had timely hitting and were able to take advantage of their situations.”

Park shortstop Michael Bittinger drove in a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Morgantown scored in each of the last four innings to preserve their 8-2 victory.

Bauers pitched all seven innings, allowing five hits and five walks with only one strikeout, but he induced soft contact when he needed it and the Mohigans played spotless defense behind him.

“I think he kept us off-balance, we were on our front foot a lot,” Myers said. Our timing looked a little off and hitting is all about timing.

“He was able to make pitches when it counted and get some double plays.”

Catcher Luke Marsh was the only Patriot with multiple hits, two singles, as Bittinger and Simon collected the team’s RBI.

Gian Degenova started on the mound for Park, allowing six runs in 5 1/3 innings while striking out three.

Poach led Morgantown with two singles and three RBI while Ryan Fluharty and Caleb Nutter both had two singles and a run driven in. Cottle had an RBI double in the top of the fifth.

“We preach to our guys to get a pitch that they can hit, drive through the baseball and drive runs in,” Wisman said. “There was no gameplan (Friday), the gameplan was to play baseball.”