Breaking News
Local Sports

Not quite enough: Colin Bryant fans 11, but Wheeling slips past Wood County

By Jay W. Bennett 4 min read

ST. MARYS -- Dom Gorence's solo home run to left in the top of the seventh was the difference here Wednesday evening at Dave Wilson Field as visiting Wheeling knocked off Wood County Legion, 2-1.

The locals of manager Mike Goodwin were trying to match their season-high four-game winning streak, but finished 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and wasted a three-hit complete game effort from Colin Bryant which featured 11 strikeouts.

Isaac Hines finished with a five-hitter, walked none and punched out eight for the Stogies, who improved to 8-2 and return to action at 6 p.m. today against Marietta in a nine-inning affair at Marietta College's Pioneer Park.

Bryant issued both of his free passes in the top of the first, but still struck out the side. The lefty had 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fourth, which included two strikeouts apiece in the second and third.

Wheeling finally got a hit off Bryant in the top of the fifth when center fielder Jon Milton broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out three-bagger to the right-center field fence. Hines followed with a sacrifice fly to center to give the Stogies a 1-0 lead.

Hines, a Wheeling Park grad, was more than up to the task from the onset. He punched out the side in order to open the first.

Although he allowed a bloop single to right by Jordan Batten to start the second, he retired six straight before Broedy Boyce reached via an error in the fourth. Hines then started a 1-6-3 double play off a ball hit by Max Anderson and didn't run into trouble until the last of the sixth.

WCL No. 8 hitter Brodie Wiggins had a stand-up double down the left-field line to get things going in the sixth.

After reaching third on a passed ball, he scored on Blake McMullen's RBI infield single. Even though McMullen stole second, he was left stranded after Hines fanned Boyce and Anderson.

Gorence, a former Linsly standout who plays at Muskingum University, launched his tater to start the seventh to provide for the winning run. Zack Taylor had a one-out bloop single, but courtesy runner Brendan Richter was left stranded at second.

Batten, who had the only multi-hit game for WCL, laced a stand-up double to right-center to get things going in the bottom of the seventh. Hines then retired Nathan Currey via strikeout before allowing a single to left by Eli Reeves to put runners on the corners. However, the right-hander got catcher Jacob Hoyt to hit into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play started by Gorence. Shortstop Trevor Thomas fired the ball across the diamond to Michael Toepher at first base just in time to avoid potential extra innings.

"Colin pitched a fantastic game, good control and he gave us every opportunity to win this ball game and he deserved that," stated Goodwin, who got a diving web gem on a sinking liner to end the fifth from center fielder Brett Haskins as he fully extended coming in toward second to rob Nick Fencl. "Defensively we played well today.

"We backed Colin up. The pitching and defense was good. It came down to offense and hitting and runners in scoring position. That's the difference. This was a classic pitcher's duel. It was a quick game, exciting and came down to the last half inning. That's the kind of game I was hoping for."

Wood County Legion, which saw Haskins get robbed by Fencl in the third inning on a long running and tumbling catch near the left-field line, dropped to 11-8 on the campaign and returns to action with a 1 p.m. twinbill on Saturday against the Stogies at the I-470 Fields.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Starting at /week.