Williamstown’s Parker Schramm gets ready to throw to first base after fielding a ground ball during a game earlier this season. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

WILLIAMSTOWN — For the fourth time in school history, the Williamstown baseball program will be competing for a state championship.

The top-seeded 27-6 Yellowjackets of head coach Levi Maxwell are in the Class A field for a second straight spring and will take on No. 4 Charleston Catholic (16-19) at 10 a.m. Friday in the first semifinal at Appalachian Power Park. Three-time defending state champion Moorefield (18-14) has the No. 3 seed and squares off against No. 2 seed Wahama (25-8) 50 minutes afterward.

Charleston Catholic, which lost in the state semifinals last year to Man while the Yellowjackets fell by one run to Moorefield, has split with WHS this season. The Irish won a 7-6 game at home early in the year and then Williamstown had a 17-3 win in late April on the return trip.

“He hasn’t pitched against us,” Maxwell said of Irish freshman Jonah DiCocco, who is 7-1 with 113 strikeouts. “I’m sure we will see him. He is their number one from what I gathered. He has got into some trouble with some walks here and there. We don’t try to break it down too finely.

“Obviously, we have to be able to make contact. He has a good breaking ball. If he’s throwing strikes we should be able to barrel it up and I think we are disciplined enough at the plate to not swing at balls above our hands. We’ve seen guys like him a few times this year.”

Although the WHS coaching staff has several options as to who will throw to starting catcher Cruz Isaly, Maxwell appears to be set on Chase Barkley, who is 4-2 with a 2.04 earned run average.

“Most likely we’re probably going to go with our senior Chase Barkley,” said the coach. “We’re going to have him go out there. It’s his game to pitch.

“I think he’s going to be prepared, ready to go and roll with it. He’s pitched in big-time games a few different times. You got to play to win that game the first day.”

Braydin Coleman (7-1, 2.66 ERA), Carson Hill (6-1, 4.58 ERA) and Parker Schramm (4-0, 3.90 ERA) among others could be utilized out of the bullpen if necessary.

“I think that since the start of the season we’ve kind of really tried to do a good job of mixing guys in with younger guys to get them in the lineup and get some looks to build on who was going to be our more every day guys during the year,” coach Maxwell added. “A lot of our young guys jumped in and kind of stayed in the lineup.

“There was growing pains there with some of the younger guys, inexperience you could call it, but we purposely put them in big situations to number one, see how they handled it, and number two, to get experience. Going to a state tournament it’s a little bigger, but at the same time it’s still 90 feet to the bag and 60 feet, 6 inches to home plate.”

Williamstown, which finished runner-up to Tyler Consolidated in the Little Kanawha Conference, also had 3-0 and 11-5 triumphs versus fellow LKC member Wahama. Williamstown has not faced the other Yellow Jackets.

“I think that we’ve had a really good following this whole season,” added the skipper, whose club features Leewood Molessa (1B), Maxwell Molessa (SS), Ty Ott (2B) and Schramm at the top of the lineup. “It’s been even better than last year. We’ve had people coming from way back in the 60s and 70s, people that are coming back and talking about us.

“It’s been awesome to see those people supporting our program and we are proud of them. That’s what we do, work for the history of the program and that’s really been awesome from my perspective to see these older guys coming back and watching games and supporting these younger guys. They were in the same situation at one point. It makes you proud of the community. We got a really good fanbase, the best.”

Left fielder Luke Ankrom is projected to bat fifth and will be followed by center fielder Harbor Haught and Barkley. In the eight-hole, the designated hitter spot will be occupied by either T.J. Thomas or Coleman. The right fielder Hill rounds out the batting order.

“Last year it was great to be there and get to be in the state tournament,” added the skipper. “This year it’s more of a mentality of expectation. The younger guys on our team right out of the gate bought into our process and what we were trying to do and we were very hard on those guys.

“We have a high, high expectation for them and they’ve just done such an incredible job. It makes you think for even the future we are going to be in pretty good shape the next few years. I think our guys are ready and prepared. I’m interested to see how it plays out.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

High School Baseball

Friday’s projected lineup for Williamstown

High School in Class A state semifinals

Name (position) AVG 2B-3B-HR RBIs SBs

Leewood Molessa (1B) .553 9-6-8 45 29

Maxwell Molessa (SS) .418 12-8-1 17 27

Ty Ott (2B) .411 10-0-0 44 19

Parker Schramm (3B).299 3-4-0 25 12

Luke Ankrom (LF) .337 5-1-0 27 12

Harbor Haught (CF) .443 4-0-0 27 29

Chase Barkley (P) .329 5-2-2 19 23

T.J. Thomas (DH) .303 2-0-1 15 1 or

Braydin Coleman (DH) .400 3-0-2 17 3

Carson Hill (RF) .333 4-0-0 17 13

Notes: Cruz Isaly is the starting catcher. Barkley is 4-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 33 Ks in 44.2 IP.