Photo by Cody Tomer Wheeling Post 1 first baseman Quinn Jamison, right, takes a pickoff throw as Follansbee’s Garrett Hornick dives back into the bag during Tuesday’s Area One Tournament game.

WHEELING — Wheeling Post 1 only collected three hits during Tuesday’s Area One Tournament opener at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex but it still managed to defeat Follansbee Post 45 11-1 in six innings.

Post 45 pitcher Logan Fedak held Post 1 hitless through three innings but Wheeling put up a five-spot in the fourth and fifth innings, using just two hits and taking advantage of six walks, four errors and three hit-by-pitches to secure a 10-1 advantage after five.

Despite the patience at the plate, Wheeling manager Jon-Michael Brunner wants to see his players start connecting with the ball and making the most of their opportunities at the dish.

“Our message after the game was, ‘Everytime you come out, this game presents an opportunity,'” Brunner said. “‘It doesn’t matter if you’re playing the Yankees or whoever, you have to take care of what you can control.’ I don’t think we did that early on. Whether that’s lack of focus or taking for granted that we have beaten Follansbee a couple times this season but we have to take care of what we can control or it will take over us.”

After falling behind 1-0 after two, and being held hitless through three, Wheeling’s Jack Scouvart delivered the team’s first hit when it mattered the most.

With the bases loaded, Scouvart blooped a RBI single to shallow left field to even the score at 1-1.

Jack Selmon plated a run with a RBI walk, a wild pitch allowed Michael Toepfer to race home from third and a two-run double by Alex Taylor capped the five-run fourth.

In the sixth, Zach Taylor was hit by a pitch and scored all the way from first on a pick-off attempt.

Later in the frame, a passed ball allowed Scouvart to score from third and Nate Simon showed off the wheels by scoring from second on the same play. An error scored two more to complete the five-run fifth and create a 10-1 cushion.

“We took extra bases when we needed to and our guys were aggressive on the bases,” Brunner said. “A couple guys came up with big hits with the bases loaded and I was happy about that because we were able to build a little more confidence.”

Scouvart finished his solid evening by adding a RBI sac-fly to right field to end the game in six innings.

Dylan Hodgson earned the win with five strong innings pitched, while striking out five and walking one.

Wheeling will now get today off and play the winner of Parkersburg and Moundsville on Thursday.

“We have a well-deserved day off (today),” Brunner said. “We crushed our guys with the schedule this year so it’s nice to have a midweek day off, which we haven’t had all season. We’ll regroup, get some good batting practice somewhere else and see who we play on Thursday.”

Follansbee will take on Wellsburg in an elimination contest today at 7:30 p.m.

“We were in a fight for three innings,” Post 45 skipper Rob McMahons said. “It was a good pitching duel at the beginning but we are all 15 and 16-year olds. We’ll keep growing and building off of it. We’ll show up (today), regroup and wish for the best.”

MOUNDSVILLE 9, WELLSBURG 5

WHEELING — With Moundsville Post 3 trailing 5-3 after four innings, it rattled off four runs in the fifth and added another in the sixth to upend Wellsburg Post 34 in the opening round of the Area One Tournament.

Luke Cramer earned the win with five strikeouts and a walk in a complete-game effort.

Zade Billings, Chad Frazier and Will McGinnis each recorded multiple hits in the victory and Post 3 swiped seven bases.

Andrew Coursin paced Post 34 with a pair of hits.