ST. MARYS — They came. They saw. They conquered.

Parkersburg Post 15 excelled in all three phases of its first game of the Area 1 double-elimination tournament at St. Marys High School.

Pitcher Wyatt Boice came within one hit batter of throwing a perfect game, Caden Parker hit an inside-the-park homer as part of an eight-hit attack and with a combined flawless defense Post 15 defeated Wellsburg Post 34, 12-0, in five innings.

“We had a gameplan and we executed,” Post 15 manager Mike Goodwin said. “We had good pitching from Wyatt. We had good, timely hitting from guys like Caden and Peyton (West). We threw strikes and played good defense.”

Post 15 improves to 27-7 and meets Wheeling Post 1 on Wednesday with first pitch at 6 p.m. in Wheeling. Wheeling defeated Parkersburg in two meetings during the regular season.

“We can’t get complacent – we are on a mission,” Goodwin said. “WIth Wheeling, we will have our hands full.”

Two innings stood out in particular for the Post 15 offense. Leading 1-0, Parkersburg put up a fives-spot in the bottom of the second inning.

In a six-run fourth inning, Parker’s grand slam put the mercy rule in effect and Boice responded by throwing yet another zero in the fifth inning.

“Caden hit the ball very hard to deep center,” Goodwin said. “The kid dove and missed it, and the ball caromed off the fence to give extra time for Parker to make it all around the bases.”

The lone Wellsburg baserunner reached safely after Boice plunked the batter on an 0-2 pitch with one out in the fourth inning. Boice finished with three strikeouts.

“Wyatt has developed throughout the year from our No. 4 pitcher to probably our No. 3 – he is very efficient,”Goodwin said. “He works fast, too. When his stuff is on, he can pitch to anybody in the state.

“Wyatt just does not show much emotion – he doesn’t get too high or get too low. Honestly, after the game he didn’t show much reaction at all. All he cares about is winning. Really, there was no celebration.”

Joining the Post 15 hit parade were West going 3-for-3 with a double and Cooper Cancade contributing two hits, including a double.

In its past three games, Post 15 has scored 45 runs.

“We have played 34 games in six weeks – that’s a lot of baseball,” Goodwin said. “We purposely have an intense schedule to get reps in and basically it’s like clockwork.”