The Gilmer County baseball program of head coach Jacob Wolfe qualified to the Class A state tournament for the second consecutive season. The fourth-seeded Titans take on fifth-seeded Greater Beckley Christian early Saturday afternoon at Marshall University’s Jack Cook Field. (Photo Provided)

GLENVILLE — Things have changed a little bit since the Gilmer County baseball program of skipper Jacob Wolfe qualified for the Class A state tournament last year.

For starters, the Titans will be making the trek to the new site of the big show like everyone else — Marshall University’s Jack Cook Field.

Instead of four teams making it to the final week of the season, eight programs qualified to Huntington.

Things didn’t go exactly according to plan in 2025 as the Titans were bounced in the state semifinals by East Hardy.

“That’s the message I told them. I mean enjoy it. You never know,” said Wolfe, whose 26-7 squad earned the No. 4 seed and will clash with No. 5 Greater Beckley Christian around 1 p.m. Saturday following the completion of the 10 a.m. contest between top-ranked Huntington St. Joe and No. 8 Trinity. “It’s not guaranteed you know. We were kind of a year ahead of schedule last year and I think the boys are more mentally tougher this year and more resilient to some things.

“Being down to Man 1-0 into the sixth inning and you just keep battling and you find ways to execute and get things done. We’re a better hitting team than we were last year and just stronger. I think we’re overall just a stronger team mentally and I think that’s going to be the biggest advantage we’re going to have.”

If the Titans win on Saturday afternoon they’ll return to face the early game victor at 10 a.m. on Thursday in the semifinals with the state title game slated for a 10 a.m. first pitch next Saturday.

The Titans, who feature just a pair of seniors in Jacob Stewart and Seth Stewart, have seven players carrying a .323 batting average or better.

Leading the way for Gilmer County this spring has been junior Kolten Holbert and freshman Roddick Page. Holbert is hitting .480 with 12 doubles, seven triples, four home runs and 52 runs-batted-in. Page carries a .467 average with 13 two-baggers, a triple, two bombs and 32 RBIs.

“I’ll be straight up honest with you. It will probably be Kolten or Roddick,” admitted Wolfe when asked about who would toe the rubber in the state quarterfinal. “We haven’t fully decided.

“I mean go with the horse that got you there potentially or go with the guy who has had some pretty good starts here lately and pitched a bunch of big games, and maybe puts our defense in a little bit better of a position, but it will be one of the two.”

While Holbert will man shortstop if Page gets the start, Jacob Stewart (.339 AVG, 5-5-1, 38 RBIs) handles those duties when Holbert is on the mound.

Gilmer County has a plethora of options for its starting lineup, but the outfield could consist of Tyler Ratliff in right, Seth Stewart in center and Lex Grogg in left with Remi Huffman at first, Brody Beall at third, Dallas Goodrich (39 RBIs) at catcher and JP Barr at second.

“We’ve been using a variation a little bit here at the end,” admitted Wolfe. “We’ve had a freshman who has started to hit a little bit and gotten hot and we’ve been using him as the DH and that’s the (Ashton) Hamric boy. He’s (Page) been pitching some so we’ve been playing him at first base a little bit more.

“We’ve been working him a lot there and since he’s been pitching we don’t want to really wear him out behind the plate so we’ve been putting him at first base here toward the end. He’s probably, honestly, our number two pitcher right now as far as starters goes. Our defense is in the best position whenever he pitches. He’s been doing a pretty good job.”

Greater Beckley Christian, which sports a 23-12 record, lost to the Titans during the first week of the season, 12-6, in what was their lone meeting.

“They’ve been pretty focused at practice. They’ve been pretty excited,” Wolfe added. “I think that we’re ready to kind of exercise the demons of what happened last year. We went down there and just didn’t have quite the showing we wanted to have. I think we’re ready to show that, of course, we belong down there. I think it’s been a pretty excited mood. I think the county was really hopeful to have both spring sports represented in the state tournament.

“I think everybody is pretty excited. I’m hoping that we still get a good turnout down there. I understand it is a little bit further. I think we’ll still have a good turnout though. Hopefully we still get a good turnout. No matter what, our job is on the field and hopefully we can take care of business and we’re ready to go whenever we get down there on Saturday.”

If the seeds hold, the Titans would be out for some revenge against St. Joe, which won the only meeting 10-5.

“It’s been fun,” Wolfe added of the season and having a chance to bring back a state championship to Glenville. “I think there’s been seven times before last year that we’d won a regional championship and now you’ve done it two years in a row. Of course, this year was a little easier path with allowing eight teams, but it’s great to see how they’ve grown and how they’ve matured because we were a very young group last year. We’re still, I say just, but we are going to be losing two players. We are still going to have a big core of that team back next year

“It’s exciting to see how they are growing and kind of see the development and the camaraderie that they’ve kind of taken into the we over me mentality. I think we definitely have a chance. I feel good as long as we come out and play clean defensively and don’t give up free passes. I think we got a chance against anyone, but these eight teams are still playing for a reason. You can’t sleep on any of them. You have a bad game and we could be done. I think we have a chance, but it’s just as easily everybody else has a chance against us.”

The other two quarterfinals on Saturday pit No. 2 East Hardy and No. 7 Pendleton County at 5 p.m. with No. 3 Sherman and No. 6 Madonna taking the field 50 minutes afterward.

Class A State Baseball Tournament at

Saturday, June 6

GAME 1: #1 Huntington St. Joe vs. #8 Trinity, 10 a.m.

GAME 2: #4 Gilmer County vs. #5 Greater Beckley Christian, 50 minutes following

GAME 3: #2 East Hardy vs. #7 Pendleton County, 5 p.m.

GAME 4: #3 Sherman vs. #6 Madonna, 50 minutes following

Thursday, June 11

GAME 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 10 a.m.

GAME 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 50 minutes following

Saturday, June 13

GAME 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 10 a.m.