Photo by Kim North Wheeling’s Brady Ernest (6) slides safely into home plate with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night against St. Clairsville Post 159 at Patriot Field on the campus of Wheeling Park High School. Post 1 rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the seventh for a 5-4 victory. Reaching for the ball is Post 159 pitcher Colby Carpenter while catcher Eli Smith reacts in the background.

WHEELING – Wheeling Post 1 remained unbeaten Tuesday night but had to work extra in doing so.

Brady Ernest raced home from third base on a wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning as Post 1 (7-0) rallied past visiting St. Clairsville Post 159 by a 5-4 count at Patriot Field on the campus of Wheeling Park High School.

The winning run came after Wheeling tallied two runs in the bottom of the seventh to draw even on a one-out RBI double to right-center by Rhyder Dlesk, the No. 9 hitter in the order, and Reese Davis’ infield single up the middle with two outs.

“It definitely wasn’t a masterpiece on our part, but our pitching was outstanding,” Post 1 manager Scott Castilow said in reference to the combined effort of recent Wheeling Central grads Brayden Cover and Steven Brodegard, both of whom will pitch at the NCAA D-I level next fall. “It’s a luxury to have those types of arms.”

Ernest laced a double just inside the line in right to open the bottom of the eighth. He was sacrificed to second by Aleks Zanieski and took third on Jake Brown’s groundout. With the count 1-2 on Nolan Yanchak, the next pitch kicked away from the plate as Ernest sped home without a throw.

“That was fantastic. You talk about getting an inning going,” Castilow praised. “He probably could have had a triple but being the leadoff runner we didn’t want to take any chances. He’s seeing the ball really, really well. I can’t speak highly enough about him.”

Trailing by two runs heading to the bottom of the seventh, Kayden Knapp dropped a one-out single down the line in left and Dlesk drove the first pitch he saw into the right-centerfield gap as Knapp chugged around the bases. With two outs, Davis bounced the ball over the mound and behind second base where St. Clairsville’s Matheson King fielded, but his off-balance throw wasn’t in time as Dlesk scored the equalizer.

“Rhyder Dlesk coming through big time,” Castilow pointed out. “It’s fantastic that the bottom past of our order can turn things over for the top. The nice thing about having the type of lineup like we do is, realistically, we can mix and match pretty much everyone from 2 to 8 and feel comfortable.”

St. Clairsville (3-2) scored three times in the top of the second. An error allowed one run to cross the plate before Colby Carpenter singled in a run and Kade Koroneos’ ground-rule double to left knocked in the third tally.

Post 1 got two of those runs back in the third on a two-out single up the middle by Davis who finished with a trio of ribbies.

Post 159 made it 4-2 in the fifth when Koroneos led off by bouncing the ball over the fence in left for his second ground-rule double of the game. He took third on a groundout and raced home on a wild pitch.

“We had two mental miscues that really hurt tonight,” Post 159 manager Mike Muklewicz offered. “The safety-squeeze early … the only place we can’t go with that is back to the pitcher, and that’s where the ball went. Then, we had runners on first and second in the sixth with no outs and we back-picked at second when we were sacrificing.

“Coming into tonight I thought this was our first real test,” Muklewicz added. “I was happy with what I saw from the kids against two quality arms. I feel like we beat them in two, three, maybe all phases of the game, but they didn’t quit. That’s two really good programs.

“They say you learn from losses but I thought this was a big confidence boost for our kids to let them know they can play with a really good team like Wheeling. Dylan Blon pitched a great game. He’s a bulldog on the mound and he showed tonight why he is the winningest pitcher in Barnesville history.”

Blon, who will pitch at NCAA D-II power Marietta College, struck out five, walked three and scattered half-a-dozen hits. He threw 104 pitches, of which 67 were strikes.

“I would have liked to see a little more offense, but their pitcher was solid,” Castilow added. “He kept us off balance. That’s a very good team over there and any time we can play competition like that, it’s only going to make us better. I’m proud of the way the guys responded like they did.”

Cover, the Akron University signee, punched out eight batters in his 6.2 innings of work. He walked one and gave up eight hits. Brodegard, who will head to Mercyhurst University in the fall, fanned three of the seven batters he faced to earn the win.

St. Clairsville doesn’t have any time to dwell on the setback as it hosts Cambridge Wednesday on the Memorial Park diamond. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Both teams are entered in the Muskingum University Tournament over the weekend.