Photo by Kim North Wheeling Wildthings’ Brayden Cover delivers to the plate Sunday in the championship game of the 16U Edgar Martin Beast of the East baseball tournament at Patriots Field at Wheeling Park High School. He threw three hitless innings as the Wildthings blanked Morgantown Post 2 JV Legion, 8-0, for their title.

WHEELING — Taming the Edgar Martin Beast of the East baseball tournament once is quite a feat. Repeating is an entirely different achievement.

That is exactly what the Wheeling Wildthings 15U team accomplished Sunday afternoon on the sun-splashed all-turf Patriots Field high above The Friendly City on the campus of Wheeling Park High School.

In fact, this is the third title for the squad, which is made up of players from Cameron, Hiland (Oh.), Wheeling Central, Wheeling Park, River and Thomas Jefferson (Pa.), won last year in the 14U bracket. They also captured the 12U championship at 11-year-olds in 2019.

They didn’t compete in 2020 due to COVID and played at a tournament in Myrtle Beach in 2021.

“We were able to string together some hits there in the first inning, and we capitalized on some walks by their pitcher,” assistant coach John Monigold said. “A lot of teams are throwing off-speed stuff to us, and the kids have adapted really well to it and are taking the ball the other way.”

After scoring twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to nip rival Wheeling Post 1 JVs, 4-3, in a Texas Shootout semifinal, the Wildthings (25-4-2) kept their momentum going by tallying five times in the bottom of the first inning against Morgantown Post 2 JV Legion and adding three more in the second for an 8-0 victory in a game stopped after four-and-a-half innings due to the mercy rule.

Miles Gorby, Griffin Monigold and Braxton Billick all had run-scoring singles in the early outburst. Jed Hunley had two ribbies in the inning.

Hunley’s infield single in the second scored a run and Henry Anderson tripled in another. Winning pitcher, Brayden Cover, knocked in the final run with a single to center.

Cover went the first three innings, allowing no hits, striking out four and walking a pair. However, he picked off one of the base-on-balls. Kaden Hunt pitched the final two frames, punching out three.

“My two-seam fastball was really working for me today,” Cover said. “My curveball also was pretty good.”

Cover threw 41 pitches, with 23 being strikes.

Wildthings 4, Post 1 JVs 3

Trenton Rosenthal’s single in the bottom of the eighth lifted the Wildthings.

Billick singled twice and doubled to drive in a run while Rosenthal finished with two singles. Gorby and Ty Fusco had RBI doubles.

Coy Angel struck out 15, allowed four hits and walked three in a route-going performance. He threw 116 pitches.

The Monigold Triplets

“Coach (Adam) Angel was looking for a team to play last year with the Stark Summit Baseball League. We went down and played them two years ago,” Monigold, the father of triplets Gerut, Grady and Griffin, explained. “Last year Adam needed some help fielding a team for the Beast, so we joined them to help them out. My kids loved the experience and wanted to play with them again.

“We still play during the week with the Hiland team, but we help the Wildthings out on the weekends.”