×

‘Bad night’: Post 15 falls to Bridgeport, 11-4

Parkersburg Post 15’s Brady Swain, left, signals to his teammates after hitting a double during Wednesday’s game against Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG – Everyone’s bound to have a bad day in the office.

That’s exactly what happened to Parkersburg Post 15 during Wednesday’s 11-4 loss to Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park.

“We had a bad night,” Post 15 coach Mike Goodwin said. “We have been playing good baseball lately, and we just had a bad night.”

Bridgeport took advantage of six free passes in the first four innings with a five-run outburst in the third inning and made sure any ideas of a comeback from Parkersburg were futile when Zach Rohrig hit a two-run homer to put his club in front 8-2 in the top of fourth inning.

With two games remaining before the postseason kicks off next week, Post 15 slipped to 19-10. Post 68, which played flawless defense and produced 11 hits in the seven-inning affair, improves to 16-7.

Parkersburg Post 15 catcher Josiah DeMoss went 4-for-4 at the plate with two runs batted in during Wednesday’s game against Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“We have a couple of games to right ourselves,” Goodwin said. “I’m glad we have a couple of games before the Area Tournament because if we were rolling into the Area with a game like today I would not feel real good.

“But I feel good. The older kids will get things right.”

On most nights, what Parkersburg did with the bats and scoring in four different innings might result in a ‘W.’ However, Post 15 couldn’t get those add-on runs to keep the margin close.

Josiah DeMoss went 4-for-4 with two RBIs for Parkersburg, while Carter McLain accounted for two of the team’s nine hits. Both Caden Parker and Brady Swain contributed a double to the attack.

“I was happy from the perspective we scored one run and were there nibbling, but we never did crack it open for the big inning,” Goodwin said.

Parkersburg Post 15’s Dylan Holliday pitches in relief during Wednesday’s game against Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Control issues followed Post 15 starting pitcher Evan out of the gate. After retiring the first two batters of the game, the left-hander walked the next two in the Bridgeport lineup. On a delayed double steal with runners at first and second, Duvall continued to home plate after the catcher’s throw to third base sailed into left field – one of four errors committed by Post 15.

In the home half of the second inning, Parkersburg tied the game at 1-1 when Brady Swain led off with a double and scored on Carter McLain’s one-out base hit.

A nightmare of a third inning created a comfort zone for Bridgeport, which scored five runs on five hits in addition to a pair of walks. A total of 10 batters stepped to the plate in the inning.

Parkersburg managed another single run in the third inning off Bridgeport starting pitcher Conner Blake. Blake allowed five hits and hit a pair of batters before closing out his evening with three innings of work.

“We did a poor job of throwing strikes, getting us out of a jam – but we made it worse and compounded the problem by making errors,” Goodwin said. “That was the story of that inning.”

Parkersburg Post 15 batter Evan Swain gets hit by a pitch during Wednesday’s game against Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Dylan Holliday’s one-out single with runners at first and second base brought home the second Parkersburg run and cut the deficit to 6-2.

The Bridgeport offense continued to wreak havoc with a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Rohrig’s two-run homer in the fourth completed his day with two hits in three at bats and two runs scored.

In the fifth inning, Bridgeport tacked on runs with an RBI single from Michael Romano and another run-scoring base hit from Duvall. Romano finished the night 2-for-4 with three runs scored. The margin widened even further at 11-3.

Parkersburg’s pitching staff ended the game on several positive notes. Eli Davis’ second of two innings of relief opened with a single and the runner eventually advancing to third base with no outs. Davis induced a pair of pop flies and struck another batter out to leave the runner stranded at third.

In the seventh inning, 15-year-old Wyatt Boice retired all three batters he faced, including a punch out for the final out.

Parkersburg Post 15 assistant coach Jeff Thompson (wearing the helmet) talks with his players during a mound visit in Wednesday’s game against Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“Bridgeport played a clean game and offensively they swung the bat, – even when we weren’t walking them,” Goodwin said.

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg Post 15 coach Mike Goodwin explains the ground rules during the pre-game meeting with the umpires prior to Wednesday’s game against Bridgeport Post 68 at City Park. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today