Brodegard struck out 10, walked one and allowed two singles. All of Weir’s base-runners were found in the third inning. Brodegard struck out two and catcher Koy Lipinski threw out a would-be base stealer to neutralize the Red Rider’s lone inning of opportunity in the two team’s WVSSAC Class AA, Region 1 tournament matchup at St. Clairsville Memorial Park.

Brodegard, a Mercyhurst commit, has been a tough nut to crack for opposing offenses all season– and even further back than that, Central head coach Todd Cover says.

“He’s done that for four years, so we kind of expected it,” Cover said of Brodegard’s shutout performance. “I know that we’re kind of spoiled with that. We kind of expect it from him. We’re a good hitting ballclub. So, he threw strikes, we got ahead, and when you do that, you know you have a chance to pitch a really good game, and he did that today. I thought his stuff was pretty good, and he got ahead for the most part. He’s got a good defense behind him. Combine all that together and it’s a 3-0 win.

“It’s the postseason now, it’s survive and advance. So that’s where we’re at. Their pitcher we saw before, he’s a really, really good pitcher. We hit him pretty good before, and we knew that wasn’t going to happen again, we knew it was going to be close. We were able to grind out three runs and get the lead for Steven, and he stood it up. So, again, survive and advance mode, that’s what we’re in right now. We have some big goals, and tonight was step one.”

The Maroon Knights struck in the bottom of the second inning. Brayden Cover reached on a walk, advanced to third on a Matt Criniti single, and scored on a ground out. Zayne Rosnick shot a single to right field to bring ’round Criniti.

Central scored again in the third, Brady Ernest dashing home from third on a passed ball to the backstop.

Outside of two opportunistic innings, Weir pitcher Aleks Zanieski did well to limit a potent Wheeling Central offense. The junior struck out six in five innings, surrendering five hits.

“Listen, they’re a good team,” Weir head coach Dave Cowden said of Wheeling Central. “They had their horse pitching. If you don’t score, you can’t win. It’s just that simple. And he kept us down, kept us off-balance.

“Credit to him and that team. That’s a pretty good team. You know, I thought Zanieski pitched a pretty good game as well. Again, you got to score runs to win, and we just weren’t able to put anything together tonight.”

Ernest had two of Central’s five hits. Ernest also walked once to reach three times in total. Brayden Cover also reached thrice, hitting a single and drawing two free passes. Rosnick and Jake Brown each tallied RBI.

Weir will now play Tyler Consolidated in an elimination game. Central will await the winner of that game for their next playoff contest.

Cover says that his Maroon Knights, defending state champions in Class AA, are ready for whatever comes at them.

“It’s anticipation, it’s expectation– we know Wheeling Central as a whole sports-wise is a winning program, it’s a winning culture, so we’re just trying to keep up our end of it,” Cover said. “And it is postseason. I told the guys, you know, survive in advance, grind it out. You’re going to face everybody’s best pitcher now going forward, so you just try to grind runs across, and when you get guys on base, you have to try to get them in. And if you do that, you’ll win. If you don’t, you might be going home. I’m confident in the team, and I think they’re a confident bunch themselves, so hopefully we can keep it rolling.”