MORGANTOWN – Despite dropping both regular-season games to the University Hawks, the Buckhannon-Upshur baseball Buccaneers were competitive in both games.
They had no such luck against the Hawks in the Section 2, Region I tournament lid-lifter Tuesday night as they dropped a 22-5 decision in a five-inning game that was halted on the mercy rule.
The game started out well enough for the Bucs as they took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Eli Bryant hit a one-out double to left field and raced home on a single by Cam Tenney.
University tied the game in their half of the first when Brodee Latocha drew a lead-off walk and later scored on a two-out single by Aaron Forbes.
The Bucs reclaimed the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second.
Ian Donnen started the canto with single to right field and courtesy runner Jaden Westfall went on second on a walk to Landon Marple.
Both runners moved up on a passed ball and then Payton Bennett hit a shallow single to center field bringing home Westfall and moved Marple to third. Bennett swiped second putting runners at second and third.
Brayden Hamer hit a grounder back to the mound that scored Marple treating the Bucs to a 3-1 lead.
It all went south for the Bucs after that as the Hawks scored six times in their half of the second for a 7-3 lead then tacked up eight more runs in the third and added seven runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 22-3 lead.
The Bucs wrapped up the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth when Tenney hit a sacrifice fly that scored pinch hitter Blake Runyon and Isaac Lane hit a double that brought home Zach Calef-Boring.
The Bucs had seven hits with Calef-Boring, Bryant, Tenney, Lane, Donnen, Bennett and Ruynon each getting one.
The loss dropped the Bucs (9-18) into the elimination game with Preston on Wednesday. Bridgeport beat Preston in their sectional battle by a 17-0 score.
Bridgeport (26-4) was slated to play University (13-13) Wednesday in the winner’s bracket.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 120 02 – 5
University 168 7x – 22
E – Buckhannon-Upshur 4; University 0. DP – University 1. LoB — Buckhannon-Upshur 3; University 6. 2B – Bryant, Lane, Croston 2, Latocha, Forbes, Jansen, Edwards. SF – Tenney. SB – Bennett, Latocha, Oleska.
Hitting
Buckhannon-Upshur – Zach Calef-Boring cf, 3 1 1 0; Eli Bryant rf, 2 1 1 0; Cam Tenney 2b, 2 0 1 2; Isaac Lane p-3b, 3 0 1 1; Ian Donnen c, 2 0 1 0; Landon Marple dh-ss, 1 1 0 0; Clint Crites 3b, 1 0 0 0; Ryan Snyder 1b, 1 0 0 0; Payton Bennett dh, 2 0 1 1; Brayden Hamer ss-p, 1 0 0 1; Jaden Westfall cr-p, 0 1 0 0; Blake Runyon ph, 1 1 1 0; Tucker Burr p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 19 5 7 5.
University – Brodee Latocha lf, 2 3 1 0; Wenkai Cambell cf, 5 2 1 0; Noah Braham 1b, 4 2 1 4; Aaron Forbes 3b, 4 3 3 3; Gabe Templeton rf, 3 2 2 2; Gabe Jansen dh, 4 2 2 3; Cody Thomas ss, 2 3 1 1; Jake Croston 4 1 3 3; Chase Edwards 2b, 2 2 1 3; Jackson Oleska pr-cr, 0 2 0 0; Zachary Harman p, 0 0 0 0; Logan Vance, p, 0 0 0 0; Chase George p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 30 22 15 19.
Pitching
Buckhannon-Upshur – Lane (L): 2 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 13 runs, 7 earned runs, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts; Hamer: 1/3 of an inning, 2 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts, 1 hit batsman (Braham), 1 balk; Westfall; pitched to five batters; 4 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts; Burr: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts.
University – Harman (W): 3 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts; Vance: 1 inning, 0 run, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts; George: 1 inning, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts.
