Photo by Kim North Colerain catcher Kaden Banal reaches out in an attempt to tag Weirton’s Zac Stern (1) who was safe on the play. The A’s scored seven times in the first inning en route to a 20-5 Ohio Valley Baseball League decision on the Martins Ferry High School diamond.

MARTINS FERRY — Colerain is experiencing the expansion blues early its initial season in the Ohio Valley Baseball League

Monday night the Hitmen (2-7) received another dose of reality as visiting Weirton (4-4) scored seven times in the first inning on its way to a 20-5 shelling on the Martins Ferry High School diamond.

Colerain only amassed three hits, walked seven A’s batters and committed seven errors.

“This is the way we’ve played all year. We have a coupole bad innings in the field and we get behind,” Colerain manager Ralph Kinsey said. “It seems that every game is the same thing. We get behind and then we can’t come back because the entire team is in a (hitting) slump.

“We’re going to have to keep working and, hopefully, we snap out of it by the end of the year.”

Weirton, which has a plethora of college players on its roster, sent a dozen batters to the plate in the top of the first, with seven scoring and a like number banging out base hits. Colerain added three of its miscues in the frame.

Grant Wilharm, Troy Sallis, Ash Berry and Zac Stern all singled in runs, while Casey Jones doubled in another to spark the early uprising.

The Hitmen scored twice in the first and two more times in the second to slice the deficit to 7-4. They did so by taking advantage of five base-on-balls as it only had one hit against Weirton starter Grant Wilharm.

The A’s added three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, four in the sixth and five in the seventh. They finished with 15 base hits as Jones, who plays at LaRoche University, led the way with two doubles, a single and four RBI, while Washington & Jefferson product Ted Platt also knocked in four runs with two singles and a double. W&J teammate Zac Stern added two singles, a double and one run batted in.

Eight of the nine spots in the Weirton batting order recorded at least one hit and seven spots had at least one RBI. Troy Sallis and Ash Berry, the No. 8 and 9 batters in the Weirton lineup, combined for four singles and five ribbies. Both play at LaRoche.

Former Martins Ferry three-sport standout Dom Wallace relieved Wilharm in the second and picked up the win with three-plus innings of work. He struck out two and walked four but only allowed one unearned run.

Danny Goff doubled and had an RBI. Joe Green knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and Xavier Kinney singled and drove in two runs. Caleb Keenan also had an RBI.

Forty-six-year-old Jesse Nixon absorbed the loss, striking out just one and walking one in six innings. The journeyman threw 103 pitches and probably deserved a better fate.

The two teams meet again Wednesday at Edwin J. Bowman Field in downtown Weirton. There was some talk about finishing a suspended game prior to the regularly scheduled contest.