photo by: Kim North

Barton’s Zach Smith slides safely into home plate on a wild pitch during Game 3 of the Ohio Valley Baseball League semifinal series against Maynard on Thursday night on Henning Field inside Pramesa Park in Crescent. The Braves won 8-3 to advance to the championship series against Bethany , which starts Sunday at 1 p.m. in Crescent.

CRESCENT – Barton advanced to the Ohio Valley Baseball League championship series for the third time in five seasons with an 8-3 victory over arch-rival Maynard in rain-delayed Game 3 of their semifinal series Thursday night before a nice-sized turnout at Henning Field inside Pramesa Park.

The top-seeded Braves (16-6) will host No. 3 Bethany (14-9) in Game 1 of the best-of-5 format in Crescent on Sunday at 1 p.m. Game 2 will be played at Bethany Park on Monday at 6 p.m.

Barton held a 2-0 advantage Wednesday before the rain came and forced the contest to be suspended in the top of the third.

“These guys are resilient,” veteran Barton manager Billy Timko said of his team. “They are a bunch of guys that love playing baseball. It feels nice to be back in the finals.”

Barton lost in four games to Wheeling last summer. It won the title in a five-game thriller over Weirton in 2020 before falling to Maynard in 2021.

The fourth-seeded Indians (12-10) didn’t waste any time in jumping on Barton starter Gavyn Romanyak, who started on Wednesday and continued pitching Thursday. They scored three runs to take a 3-2 lead as Cole Micker had a run-scoring infield single, Tyler Ramsay drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Hunter Westlake’s bloop single to center scored Matt Busby.

However that would be all the offense the 2021-23 league champions could muster as Romanyak got through the fourth before Steubenville senior-to-be Nolan Blackburn came in and slammed the door over the final three innings to earn the save. They teamed on a five-hitter.

“We came out and hit the ball today,” Timko said. “I haven’t seen us hit like that for most of the season. I’m glad we broke it out tonight.”

Trailing 3-2, Barton scored four times in the fourth and never looked back to make a winner out of Romanyak, who struck out two and walked a pair. Zach Smith raced home on a wild pitch to tie the game before Kobe Hill drove a double down the line in right that plated two runs. Hill would score on a sacrifice fly by Colten Coss.

Nolan Blackburn and Ben Wach each drove in an insurance tally in the fifth.

Blackburn, whose older brother Cooper is a member of the Braves and their dad and uncle played in the OVBL, retired nine of the 12 batters he faced.

“It feels great to be out here competing against guys much older than myself,” he said. “It will definitely help me during my senior year of high school and then at the next level.”

Timko could stop raving about the job Blackburn did.

“He did a wonderful job of shutting down a powerful Maynard team,” Timko praised. “I can’t say enough about what he did tonight. There’s a kid who is going to be a senior in high school. What a job.”

Hill and Cooper Blackburn each singled and doubled to lead Barton’s 10-hit attack, with Hill driving in three runs. Nate Silvus and Smith had two singles each. Wach collected two RBI.

Ramsay had a double for the only extra base hit by Maynard.

“They had some balls that found holes in some crucial situations,” Maynard manager David Vicker said. “Give them credit. They played a good game.”

Vicker also praised his team’s effort.

“My guys played hard all summer,” he noted. “They are a veteran bunch who never gave up. I’m proud of them.”

Bethany 5, Weirton 4

The third-seeded Brewers held off the A’s on Edwin J. Bowman Field in their Game 3 on Thursday.

Bethany led 4-3 Wednesday when the game was suspended due to inclement weather. Jowl Wise had a two-run homer.

Matt Brooks was the winning pitcher. The save went to Isaac Hines.

Russell Schwertfeger belted a two-run triple to put the Brewers ahead for good.

Weirton tried to rally in the seventh as Dom Wallace’s ground out made it 5-4 and the A’s had the tying run on third before a linne out to short ended things.