GLEN DALE — Home sweet home!

After struggling through an extended road trip to start the regular season because of restrictions in Marshall County due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Moundsville once again stepped onto the spacious John Marshall High School diamond Monday night. The Expos (4-7) made the most of their second home appearance, but first in two weeks.

“It’s nice to be able to get here early and be able to hit (take batting practice) on the field before the game. It made a difference when it came to putting the ball in play more compared to striking out,” Moundsville player/manager Matt Carnahan said after watching his team collect 11 hits in routing visiting Maynard, 11-1, in Ohio Valley Baseball League action.

“We played a really good, clean game yesterday (Sunday) against Barton. We had every aspect of the game played well, we just didn’t put it all together at once,” he added. “We did that tonight.”

The lop-sided victory came on the heels of a 1-6 road trip.

“We struggled there while playing the first half of our season on the road. It was ugly at times,” Carnahan noted. “Three of those losses came in extra innings, so we’ve been in every game with the exception of one.”

The Indians (5-5) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Eric Banal drew a one-out walk and stole second. He went to third on a infield groundout and raced home on a wild pitch with Mason Ramsay at bat.

However, that would be the end of Maynard’s offense for the night as Noah Neely and Cubby Varner teamed on a two-hitter. Neely started and yielded the two safeties — an infield single to the hole at short in the first and a bloop single to right in the fourth. They combined to strike out one and walk four. Varner retired eight of the 10 batters he faced. One reached on an error and the other walked, but got doubled up to end the game.

“Our pitching was really good tonight. Noah is finally settling in after his one bad outing and Cubby has been pretty reliable,” Carnahan praised.

Jake Stoner’s two-run single to center highlighted a three-run outburst in the bottom of the third as the Expos took the lead for good. With runners on second and third and one out, Maynard elected to intentionally walk Carnahan to load the bases. Stoner made them pay. He finished the game 3-for-3 and scored a run while making a pair of outstanding catches in right field.

Bryce Bauer picked up the third RBI with a groundout, making it 3-1.

Carnahan’s two-run double to left with two outs sparked a three-run fourth as the Expos blew the game open. An error by the Indians made it 7-1.

Quentin Baker was hit-by-a-pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth to record an RBI, while Joe Myers walked with the bases juiced to force in another run and Garrett Scott lifted a sacrifice fly to right to produce the 10th tally. John Santamarino’s single concluded the scoring.

Myers, the No. 8 hitter in the order, and Scott, who hit ninth, combined to go 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two driven in. Scott doubled twice.

For Maynard, which was rained out in Weirton on Sunday, only Tyler Ramsay and Ben Evick could reach base via hits.

“We didn’t hit the ball very well tonight. We hit a lot of stuff up in the air and the grass infield killed some of our groundballs,” Maynard player/manager David Vicker said. “It just wasn’t our night.”

Moundsville remains at home as Weirton (3-6) visits Wednesday night. Maynard entertains Barton (7-3) the same night. Both games start at 6.