Photo by Nick Henthorn St. Clairsville Post 159’s Brody Saunders throws a pitch against the Wheeling Wildthings on Wednesday at the I-470 JB Chambers Sports Complex. Saunders earned the win on the mound, striking out 10 across five innings.

WHEELING — St. Clairsville Post 159’s regular season is dwindling down with the postseason in-view. With their opponent long since penciled in– Post 159 will play Beverly-Lowell in the first game of a double elimination region tournament, the matchups decided by a blind draw before the season– St. Clairsville is using their remaining outings to ensure their readiness for the playoffs.

“At this point in the season, we’ve got about seven days until we start our region tournament,” Post 159 head coach Mike Muklewicz said. “The name of the game for me as the coach is to get everybody some at-bats, a little bit of mound time, some time in the field.”

St. Clairsville Post 159 had their cake and ate it too Wednesday, tuning up for the postseason while also succeeding on the diamond, topping the Wheeling Wildthings travel team 10-3 at the I-470 JB Chambers Sports Complex.

Post 159’s Brody Saunders starred both ways, pitching five innings and striking out 10 for the win, while tallying two hits and driving in two runs at the plate.

Saunders turned things over to Tyler Stottlemyer for the final two innings, the recent Shadyside graduate pitching two scoreless innings to close things out.

“I wanted to give Brody a tune-up, he came out and was in command of his pitches for the most part,” Muklewicz said. “That’s his last tune-up, probably, and he did a great job tonight. Held them at bay and let us build a little bit of a lead. Then Stottlemyer came in and kept them where they were at.”

Peyton Blue equaled Saunders’ RBI total with two. He drove in Hunter Hoffman as part of a five-run third inning which put St. Clairsville in the drivers’ seat the rest of the game.

Post 159 totaled 10 hits and walked seven times Wednesday.

“Offensively, we keep preaching good approaches, and we were able to put the ball in play,” Muklewicz said. “I think we only had one mistake in the field so all three phases of the game played pretty well. As a coach, you can’t be unhappy about this one.”

Aydan Manning and Hunter Hoffman also drove in runners. Manning, Hoffman, Caleb Powell and Ryan Mellott each swiped a base as well.

The first two innings went by without much offense, only one runner getting into scoring position through the frames, before Post 159 put up five in the top of the third. The entire Post 159 lineup came up to bat in the inning. A base hit, hit-by-pitch and walk loaded the bases with one out for Hunter Hoffman, who shot a ball to right field which scored Ryan Mellott from third. Saunders next struck a single to center, bringing in Max Castro and Aydan Manning. Peyton Blue drove one down the third base-line to bring home Hoffman, and Saunders later scored on a wild pitch before inning’s end.

The Wheeling Wildthings punched back in the bottom of the inning, a two-run double by Ryan Conrad highlighting the frame. Post 159 kept pouring it on though.

After either end of the fourth went 1-2-3, Post 159 scored two more in the fifth. Manning led off with a single, stole second and came around to score on a fielding error. Blue brought home Hoffman later in the inning on a sacrifice fly.

Three more scored in the sixth for St. Clairsville. Saunders and Mellott each scored from third on wild pitches, and Castro got home on a 4-3 ground out. There were four walks, two wild pitches and one passed ball in the inning.

Post 159 is back Thursday against Moundsville Post 3 before ending their regular season slate Saturday.

Wheeling 5, Moundsville 2

GLEN DALE — With the W.Va. Area I American Legion Tournament beginning on Monday, a pair of entrants squared off Wednesday night on the John Marshall High School diamond.

Post 1 scored twice in the first inning and tacked on a pair of insurance markers in the top of the seventh for a repeat victory over Post 3.

Henry Anderson fanned eight and walked five in five frames to collect the mound win. Jaxon Murray worked the final two innings.

Alex Taylor, Jared Marsh and Quinn Jamison all had a pair of singles for the winners. Murray knocked in two runs and Braxton Billick recorded an RBI single.

Cain Martin and Donovan Jones each singled twice for Moundsville.

Post 1 plays at Beverly-Lowell on Friday.