It took to the sixth inning for the Patriots to get on the scoreboard, and in the Bucs’ last try at-bat, Park’s Kolten Whitmire didn’t blink.

Whitmire punched out the final batter in Wheeling Park’s 1-0 win over Buckhannon-Upshur to preserve his first no-hitter of the season, and to put the Patriots in the drivers’ seat of the sectional field.

Whitmire’s no-no came with 12 strikeouts and only one walk away from perfection. Neither team committed an error Monday.

“Everything was working for me,” Whitmire said after the outing. “I felt really good in warmups, I trust all of my guys to go out and get me a run, that’s all I needed.”

“It was exciting to watch,” Wheeling Park head coach Steve Myers said. “Kolten’s been our workhorse. He has an unbelievable work ethic, every single day, whether he’s pitching, playing the field, whatever he does. That’s the rewards of his work ethic and his actions. He’s a great teammate. Couldn’t be happier for him.”

Whitmire needed 85 pitches to get through seven innings against the Buccaneers. A strikeout against the final batter he’d face was a perfect finish for the junior.

“I was feeling the same way as my first pitch,” Whitmire said of his last inning of work. “First to last I was feeling good out there throwing strikes.”

“He’s been our No. 1 guy from the beginning and he’s looked good all year,” Myers said. “Today he looked as fresh in the seventh inning as the first inning. The guys played behind him. It was a good team win, we were able to scratch a run, I thought their pitcher did an excellent job too. It was a duel the whole time. We scratched a run across and Kolten was able to finish the game.”

It was the second no-hitter of the Patriots’ year, with Ryland Robb having tossed one in the regular season.

Buckhannon-Upshur pitcher Jerin Westfall finished with seven strikeouts and no walks allowed. Wheeling Park had six hits across their six innings of offense, all singles, including two from freshman DH Jaxson Updegraff.

Wheeling Park had stranded five baserunners heading into the bottom of the sixth, unable to crack open the scoreboard. A leadoff single smacked to right-center from senior Nate Simon would end up changing that.

Robb followed with a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher, moving Simon to second. Later, with two out and Nolan Yanchak at the plate, two wild pitches in the at-bat allowed Simon to move to third and finally dash for home, easily making it to tack on the game’s lone run.

“We talked to the team about the third or the fourth- ‘This young man’s throwing a really good game, we’re going to have to manufacture a run.'” Myers said. “We talk about the little things all the time- laying down a bunt; taking an extra base; reading the ball in the dirt correctly. Our guys were able to do those things today and it paid off.”

Whitmire induced a pop-up to second baseman Myles Gorby and ground ball to Simon at short before fanning his last batter and walking off the mound with a postseason no-hitter.

“Not at all,” Whitmire said, when asked if he felt any more pressure pitching in the state playoffs. “I feel like I can trust my work, not feel any pressure and trust my guys to do what we’ve been doing since January.”

In the double-elimination format, Buckhannon-Upshur will now have to face John Marshall on Wednesday in a win-or-go-home matchup, both teams having already lost a game in the sectional tourney. Buckhannon-Upshur beat John Marshall 6-1 on Monday. The winner of that game will then play Wheeling Park, needing to beat the Patriots twice to advance. The other leg of the sectional field includes Morgantown, Preston and University. Whoever emerges from both sides of the bracket will play for the sectional championship.

“I think they’re pretty focused,” Myers said. “We’ve had a couple good practices up ’till now, and we’ll have a go at it tomorrow in practice. They’ve been a great group since day one and us as coaches, we enjoy being around them.”