Photo by Kim North Wheeling Post 1’s Brady Ernest, left, receives congratulations from third base coach/manager Scott Castilow after Ernest belted a solo home run leading off the fifth inning Saturday against visiting Beverly Lowell Post 389/750 on Patriot Field at Wheeling Park High School. Ernest had four hits, drove in four runs and scored three in a 15-1 victory.

WHEELING – After playing its first five American Legion baseball games on the road, Wheeling Post 1 had its hitting shoes laced extra tight Saturday when it hosted Beverly Lowell Post 389/750 on Patriot Field at Wheeling Park High School.

Wheeling (6-0) banged out 18 hits and scored in four of the six innings, including an eight-run outburst in the fifth when it recorded half of the hits, en route to a 15-1 shellacking of the visitors (8-3).

The game was a late addition to the Post 1 schedule and was slated for nine innings before being halted after six-and-a-half due to the 10-run mercy rule.

“That makes our job a lot easier,” Wheeling Post 1 manager Scott Castilow said. “The guys really hit the ball well today.”

Post 1 left runners on the corners in the first inning before winning pitcher Aleks Zanieski’s singled through the right side of the infield scored courtesy runner Cooper Kelly to make it 1-0 after two innings.

A four-run third bumped the count to 5-0 as Andrew Murdock and Braxton Billick secured run-producing singles. Three other runs crossed on wild pitches.

Brady Ernest, who helped lead Wheeling Central to the W.Va. Class AA state semifinals earlier in the week, ignited the fifth-inning explosion with a leadoff home run to deep right-center. He would add an RBI double later in the inning and finished 4-for-4 with a single, two doubles and the roundtripper that accounted for four RBI.

Billick added a two-run single in the frame which saw 13 Post 1 batters step to the plate, while Dom Fato added an RBI single, Brody Groome singled in another and Zanieski tripled in one.

Zanieski, a southpaw from Weir, collected the mound win with six-plus innings of work. The senior-to-be struck out a dozen, walked a pair and surrendered just two hits before leaving after 95 pitches, of which 63 were strikes. In addition, he missed hitting for the cycle by a home run, driving in two and picked off a pair of Post 389/750 baserunners.

“I can’t say enough about Z,” Castilow said of his lefty pitcher. “He had a great outing on the mound and at the plate. He’s a huge pickup for us … a left-handed arm with really, really good stuff. A pitcher like that not only makes it easier on the coaching staff, but it allows the other players to just go out and make the plays when needed.

“Today was exactly what we were hoping for.”

Of Wheeling’s 18 hits, half went for extra bases. Post 1 had seven doubles, a triple and home run. Seven different players had multi-hit outings, with Ernest recording four and Zanieski three.

“Today’s game was a last-minute thing,” Castilow noted. “We were all expecting Wheeling Central to win it all (state championship) and we wish that had been the case, but we want to play good competition and Beverly Lowell won the Ohio state championship last summer. They are a great program and games like this make us better.”

Wheeling returns to the diamond on Monday when Steubenville visits the Friendly City. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m.

FOUL TIPS

– One of only two living members of the 1950 Wheeling Post 1 baseball team was in attendance at Saturday’s game. Joe Sanzeri, who now resides in San Francisco, greeted players from both teams and threw out the first pitch. The other living member is Wheeling resident Dick Koehler.

– Three former Post 1 players have reached the Major Leagues, those being Gene Freese, Heath Haynes and Michael Grove.