Morgantown advances to OVAC baseball 5A title game with 5-1 victory over Brooke
MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown baseball team will play for the OVAC 5A baseball championship after defeating Brooke 5-1 on a windy Monday evening at Dale Miller Field.
MHS (13-8) scored its five runs on eight hits, with Mason Bowers and Bean Nipper each tallying a pair.
Starting pitcher Vinnie Aloi tossed a complete game with six hits allowed, only one earned run, and eight strikeouts. He threw four innings without allowing a base runner and struck out the side twice in the contest. Aloi also added a two-run single in the fifth inning to help cushion the lead for himself on the mound.
'We always tell the guys if there's an opportunity to go out and play for a championship we're going to be all in of it,' MHS head coach Pat Sherald said. 'Our guys have been really good at staying focused and showing up every day with great energy and effort, and being mature. They're a really fun group to coach who don't need much motivation to go out and play hard.'
Aloi got the evening started for MHS by striking out the side in the top of the first inning, and his offense showed support in the bottom half with three runs on three hits.
Mason Bowers doubled to left field after leading off the inning with an out. He came around to score as Jackson Bredeson followed with a triple. Aloi drew a walk to put runners on the corners and after the second out, Carson Velickoff singled to score two more runs and give the Mohigans a 3-0 lead after the first inning.
The Bruins earned their first hit to lead off the second, but Weston Mazey and Kai Henkins turned a double play, and Aloi earned another strike out, sending MHS back to the plate.
Bean Nipper singled to open the bottom of the second for MHS, but three straight outs ended the inning without the lead changing.
In the third inning, neither team scored a base runner, as Aloi and Murdock each worked a frame of consecutive outs against three batters.
Brooke's offense found some life in the top of the fourth with three two-out hits, yielding the first run for the visitors to cut the MHS lead to 3-1.
The Mohigans went down three batters again in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Aloi answered to force Brooke to do the same to open the fifth.
'It seems like he is getting better and better every outing,' Sherald said of his starting pitcher. 'He didn't allow a walk today, and it seemed like he had more batters swinging and missing than any other start this season. Vinnie has a ton of maturity, and he doesn't get rattled easily at all. It's been nice to see his development throughout this season and watch him get progressively stronger.'
Aloi helped his cause in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out double that drove in a pair of runs and swelled the MHS lead to 5-1 after five innings. He followed that up by striking out the side in the top of the sixth to keep his club ahead by four runs, needing three outs to end the game.
Aloi and the Mohigans did just that as the Bruins sat down in consecutive batters to end the contest.
MHS will advance to Saturday's OVAC 5A baseball championship game in Edison, Ohio against the winner of the second semifinal between Wheeling Park and Parkersburg South, which will be played on Tuesday evening.
'Both of those teams have gotten us at least once this year, so obviously, they're great opponents and competition,' Sherald said. 'We just need to go out and play Mohigan baseball and hope we can be on the winning end.'
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 5, Brooke 1
BHS 000 100 0 – 1 6 0
MHS 300 020 X – 5 8 0
Brooke (12-8) – Murdock 3010 O'Mery 3000 Moore 3000 Anderson 3000 A. Provenzano 3020 G. Provenzano 3010 T. Sperringer 3021 McMahon 3000 Beatty 2000
Morgantown (13-8) – Mazey 3000 Bowers 3220 Bredeson 3111 Aloi 2012 Joseph 3000 Velickoff 3012 Henkins 3010 Boggs 3000 Nipper 2120
2B: Bowers
3B: Bredeson
(W) Aloi: 7.0ip 6h 1r 0bb 8k
(L) Murdock: 6.0ip 8h 5r 1bb 2k
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