Wheeling Central’s Late Rally Enough To Nip John Marshall
Knights Score 4 With 2 Outs In 7th; Monarchs’ Errors Are Key
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ELM GROVE - All outs count the same in a 7 inning high school baseball game, but one is more important than the others - the 21st.
Wheeling Central was down to its final out Wednesday - the aforementioned 21st - before rallying to post an improbable, 4-3, come-from-behind victory over error-prone John Marshall on the Wheeling University diamond at the sun-soaked J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex.
"We were hitting the ball hard all game, but we were hitting it right at them," Wheeling Central head coach Jason Rowe explained. "We put the ball in play there in the seventh and made them make the plays, and when they didn't, we capitalized and made them pay."
John Marshall's Brayden Sobutka baffled the Maroon Knights (6-6) for six innings. The senior right-hander struck out four, walked a like number and allowed a trio of harmless singles.
However, a dropped fly ball in left to start the bottom of the seventh off the bat of Hunter Mueller gave Wheeling Central a spark. With one out, a routine grounder to third was booted as Mueller scooted to third and Luke Tiu was on first. Sobutka retired the next batter on a fly to center, but walked designated hitter Brayden Cover to load the bases.
On the very next pitch, Sobutka's 110th of the game, freshman Gary Hatfield sent a drive to deep right and over the right fielder's head as Mueller, Tiu and B. Cover all scored as Hatfield pulled into third with a bases-clearing triple.
"We had the right hitter at the plate in that situation," Rowe noted. "He's been clutch for us all year."
The 110th pitch by Sobutka would be his last as Jacob Coffield came on in relief. On his first pitch, Seth Cover bounced a game-ending single up the middle as Hatfield raced home.
"We got unbelievable pitching from Brayden. He threw great ... threw great," John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar stressed. "They have their 7-8-9 batters up there in the last inning and we get a fly ball to left that isn't caught. Then, Brayden comes back and gets a strikeout and a potential double play ball, but we mess that up too. We walk the bases loaded, but we're still in good shape when we get a flyout for the second out. Then they smoke one and it's tied.
"I take the blame for that," he said of Hatfield's drive to deep right. "I should've had us in a no-doubles defensive alignment.
"Again, it's the routine plays that we are not making and it's killing us," Cisar pointed out. "We just squandered an outstanding pitching performance right there. I'm proud of him. He threw well."
Cisar was right.
After walking the first two batters he faced, Sobutka settled down. He didn't allow a hit until Braxton Billick reached on an infield single to the hole at short with one out in the third. An errant pickoff throw and a wild pitch put Billick at third, but Sobutka got a pair of groundouts to escape unscathed.
Those final two outs started a stretch when he retired 10 of the next 11 Maroon Knights he faced. S. Cover had a 2-out infield single and Payton Hildebrand singled to left, but the Monarchs got out of the inning with a popup.
John Marshall took a 1-0 lead in the third with some 2-out lightning. Coffield doubled to right-center and Brennan Sobutka singled as Coffield took third. Isaac Koontz lined the first pitch he saw from Cole Sutphin through the left side of the infield as Coffield scored.
A pair of errors by Wheeling Central helped the Monarchs score twice in the fifth. Aaron Hicks belted a leadoff double and Cain Martin legged out a bunt. Coffield's grounder to the right side was kicked around, allowing Hicks to score. Another miscue let Martin race home for a 3-0 margin.
S. Cover had two of the Maroon Knights' five hits, both singles.
Bre. Sobutka and Koontz evenly divided four one-base hits.
Sutphin earned the win with a complete-game effort. The righty fanned just one, but didn't walk a Monarch. He did hit one and scattered seven hits.
"He's a great pitcher. He's always around the plate and saw some mound duty last year for us," Rowe said of Sutphin. "He showed his senior leadership qualities today."
Both teams left seven runners on base, with four of John Marshall's being in scoring position.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Monarchs.
"We play at Spring Mills tomorrow (Thursday) and at Hurricane on Friday. That's two really good baseball teams," Cisar said. "They are a couple of powerhouses."