After Williamstown defeated Central in game one on Monday by a hearty 17-16 score, neither team could plate a run in regulation and beyond in Tuesday’s game two.

A scoreless tie persisted into the bottom of the 10th, where Central’s Gary Hatfield led off the inning with a single to right field. Seth Cover followed with his own hit to right to move Hatfield to third with nobody out.

As the Maroon Knights’ Zayne Rosnick stepped up to the plate, all he had to do was hit the ball deep enough to score Hatfield on a sacrifice fly.

Rosnick did that and more, smashing the first pitch he saw over the right fielder’s head and to the wall, a walk-off smack which gave Central a 1-0 victory and knotted the series 1-1, with a decisive game three scheduled for Wednesday.

“I was just thinking I’ve got to get the run in from third, just hit it far,” Rosnick said. “[Yellowjackets pitcher Ty Ott’d] been throwing inside all game, I just had to get under the ball and get the run in.”

“We’ve got one more game left, it’s not over.”

The burst of offense was preceded by two impressive pitching performances from Central’s pair of Brayden Cover (eight innings pitched, 12 strikeouts) and Matt Criniti (two innings pitched, no hits, one walk), and Williamstown’s Ty Ott (nine innings pitched, two strikeouts, no walks) who, though saddled with the loss in the scorebook, did more than enough to put his team in position to win.

“It was the complete opposite of yesterday,” Williamstown head coach Levi Maxwell said.

“We played unbelievable defense, we pitched unbelievably well. The offense was the worst game we’ve had all year. Give credit to their guys, they pitched their butts off, so did our guy, but they got there in the end and they got it done.”

For Wheeling Central, the win was more in-line with how they like to play their game.

“That’s their ace, and that’s probably our ace going at it,” head coach Todd Cover said. “This is more our speed- pitching and defense. Yesterday kind of got away from us, I think we had nine walks, three hit batsmen and three errors. They’re too good of a lineup to give that too.

“We cut out those mistakes today and played pretty error-less ball, didn’t walk too many. We expect low-scoring games and we’ll see what happens tomorrow. We’re excited to play one more time.”

While offensive highlights were non-existent outside of Rosnick’s big swing, both teams continually one-upped each other on defense to grind up inning after inning.

Maxwell Molessa was a one-man show at shortstop for the Yellowjackets, turning two unassisted double plays throughout the game.

Molessa made a diving catch on a liner up the middle in the bottom of the second, and tossed to first to double up an overeager runner between the basepaths. The senior also turned a more traditional double play on a ground ball in the fourth, touching second base himself before firing to first.

Central had their share of defensive highlights as well. Cover struck out the side in the top of the fourth, while catcher Koy Lipinski threw out two would-be base stealers at second; one in the fifth and one in the ninth inning.

While Wheeling Central was first to plate a run, it was Williamstown who threatened more often throughout the 10 innings. Molessa was stranded at third base in the sixth, and the Yellowjackets stranded a pair in the eighth.

After battling through a 10-inning game, a win can be just as elating as a loss is devastating- especially after a 17-16 odyssey the day before. For Central, that was certainly the case.

“It was a heartbreaking loss yesterday,” Todd Cover said. “All things being told, it was 17-16, it was a one-run game. It probably wasn’t the way we drew it up yesterday, we probably should’ve held onto that lead. But the No. 1 team in the state, the No. 2 team in the state, you expect nothing but close games.

“I knew our kids would step up, they have a lot of confidence in themselves. Brayden threw a phenomenal game for us, just battled and battled. Their guy threw a great game. It was two really good pitchers and two really good teams, that’s what you expect. Luckily we were able to get one hit at the right moment.”

Rosnick has made a habit of coming up big this season, his walk-off the latest chapter in a freshman season that included championship game MVP honors of this season’s OVAC tournament.

“If you watch the OVAC game he had a big double and a home run,” Cover said of his first baseman. “Kid’s a freshman in age but he’s played for really elite travel teams and he’s seen the best of the best around the country. It’s no surprise he comes up in big moments like that.”

Wheeling Central returns to Williamstown on Wednesday for a winner-take-all game three at 5 p.m.

“At this point I think they’re ready to execute,” Maxwell said of his Yellowjackets. “We’ve just got to get the job done. We can’t let a good team hang around.”