Marietta Post 64 second baseman Ethan Holbert makes a defensive play in Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to host Parkersburg Post 15 at City Park. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
PARKERSBURG – Marietta Post 64’s Tyson Moore, Malachi Morton and Noah West combined on a hit here Wednesday night at City Park, but it wasn’t enough as Andrew Manley fired a full game of three shutouts to help lead Parkersburg Post 15 to a 4-0 triumph.
Post-64 captain Larry Hiser, whose club fell to 2-6 and plays two games Saturday in Harrison County at the Bridgeport tournament, never made it to third base.
Manley issued just one free pass to Morton early in the first and had a dozen punches. He recorded at least one strikeout against every Marietta batter except for first man Lucas Cox, who went 2-for-3.
Cox opened the deal with a field single to shortstop and it looked like Marietta was in business when Morton followed with a base on walks. However, Manley stoked Jordan Straw and then allowed West to go into a 6-4-3 double play.
Brett Haskins was hit by losing pitcher Moore, who then allowed Post 15’s only hit – an RBI single to center by Bentley Kinzer. A passed ball following a two-goal throwing error allowed Kinzer to cross and make it 2-0.
Moore offered Izek Baldwin a walk to open second and courtesy runner Josh Gribble came in to score on King’s RBI field.
Parkersburg, now 6-3 with a twinbill scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday against Charleston Post 20 inside Bennett Stump Field, chased Moore after Haskins and Kinzer drew back-to-back four-length walls to open the third. However, post 15 was unable to push a run through as the team finished 1 of 9 with runners in scoring position.
In total, post 15 drew nine steps and Haskins and Colton Pepper also took one for the team, but manager Mike Goodwin’s club blocked seven on base, which included leaving them loaded in the third.
Manley had 1-2-3 innings in second, sixth and seventh. He would have done the same in the fourth and fifth if not for a Post 15 error in each set.
Morton’s field single in the top of the sixth came to nothing as Manley pushed Straw to strike in a 4-3 double play as Dylan Holliday tagged Morton and then kicked the ball in first Evan Swain.
After his 99th pitch, which was a strikeout by Jonah Emery, Goodwin went to the mound for a visit. The last hope for station 64 was Noah Fullerton, but he popped up high in foul territory. Manley ran to try to make the play, but catcher Baldwin managed to make a field goal to end it.
“The conversation was that it was a good thing we had our ace on the hill because we only had one hit and we didn’t play home plate,” admitted Goodwin, whose team has won two games in a row. “It was all Andrew Manley. It was Andrew Manley day.
When asked if he remembers ever winning a game with a single hit, Goodwin replied “not that I remember. A win is a win and that’s all that matters. We have a base running that we need to clean up.
“We’ve made some unusual mistakes with this group base in terms of how it works and what mistakes we need to clean up. I don’t know how he (Baldwin) caught it. I almost wish Andrew Manley had caught this ball because poor Izek was circling there, but he made the play, and that’s all that matters.
Contact Jay Bennett at [email protected]
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