photo by: Nick Henthorn

Wheeling Park catcher Nolan Yanchak awaits the ball as Morgantown’s Vincent Aloi (19) slides into the plate. Yanchak tagged Aloi on after the throw from left fielder Noah Short in the third inning of Wednesday’s 6-5 win by the Patriots.

WHEELING -It’s been so long -if ever – since Wheeling Park has been 5-0 in baseball that the current head coach and his two predecessors can’t remember.

“I have no idea,” Patriots head coach Steve Myers, who is in his sixth season, said after a nail-biting, 6-5, victory over visiting Morgantown on a crisp Tuesday afternoon. “All I am concerned about is the game we are playing, to tell you the truth.”

Neither Mike McLeod nor Mark Delbrugge, who were both in attendance, could remember being 5-0 in their respective head coaching careers.

The come-from-behind nod also earns Wheeling Park an early season Mon County sweep as it defeated University in the season opener.

“Just a really good high school baseball game. Our guys never gave up. They kept playing … kept battling,” Myers said. “We were very good on the bases, too. We made some smart base running plays.”

With the game knotted at 2 after five-and-a half innings, Wheeling Park put up a 4-spot to take a 6-2 advantage.

Seton Hill signee Nate Simon found the gap in right-center with the bases loaded that gave Wheeling Park a 5-2 lead. Two batters later, Rocco DiGiandomenico’s smash to dead center turned the Mohigans defender around before the ball bounced off the fence for an RBI double.

“We had some guys come through in big moments,” Myers recalled. “We won as a team. They were willing to trust each other and play on through. We just give the ball to the next guy and keep playing.”

Not to be outdone, Morgantown’s Vincent Aloi, the losing pitcher, cleared the bases with a three-run double of his own in the top of the seventh before Simon came on to retire the only two batters he faced -the last being a strikeout to end the game – as he earned the save.

PICKED OFF TWICE

On two separate occasions, Wheeling Park pitchers picked Morgantown runners off of first base, snuffing out potential rallies. Kolton Whitmire, after walking leadoff hitter Mason Bowers on four pitches to start the game, promptly sent him to the bench. In the fifth, Jackson Bredeson reached on an error leading off, but reliever Coldin Burkhart picked him off.

“Those were two really good moves,” Myers said of the pickoffs by Whitmire (1st inning) and Burkhart (sixth inning). “That just shows the guys are mentally in the game. They are going to prepare for all parts of the game. That’s their MO. They’re willing to work hard in practice and they never stop playing. They pick each other up.”

DEFENSIVE GEM

Wheeling Park left fielder Noah Short halted another potential rally by the Mohigans to end the fifth. With one out and runners on second and third, Bredeson lofted a fly ball down the line in left. Short made the catch and unleashed a strike to catcher Nolan Yanchak who applied the tag to Vincent Aloi who had tagged and tried to score.

“That was a fantastic throw,” Myers said of Short’s throw to the plate. “Noah has really worked hard and has done some good things for the team.”

TWO RUNS ON TWO HBPs

Trailing 2-0, Wheeling Park drew even with single tallies in the third and fourth innings when Yanchak and Simon were hit with pitches, forcing in runs.

OUT, THEN SAFE

Morgantown scored two runs in the top of the first inning, but not before the umpires had to meet. With two outs and a runner on first, Aloi blasted a double to the fence in left-center. The relay throw from Miles Gorby to Simon to Yanchak easily beat Koa Silvers, who had apparently fell down between third and home. Yanchak applied the tag to end the inning, but hold on a moment. After the umpires consulted, Silvers was ruled safe due to interference on Whitmire, the Patriots starting pitcher who was headed to back up the play behind the plate.

NEXT UP

Wheeling Park heads south for a three-game set this weekend in the Guard the Capitol Invitational. On Thursday, the Patriots play Oak Hill at 1 p.m. at Marshall University’s Jack Cook Field. On Friday, they meet Spring Valley 7 p.m. before closing out the weekend against Huntington on Saturday at noon.