Photo by Emily Gallagher Wheeling Post 1’s Ryland Robb throws a pitch Thursday during Wheeling’s first outing of the WV American Legion State Baseball Tournament, taking place this year at Mylan Park in Morgantown, W.Va.

MORGANTOWN — Wheeling Post 1 starting pitcher Seth Cover threw 4.1 scoreless innings with only two hits allowed to help his team advance over Clarksburg Post 15 on the opening day of the WV Legion State Baseball Tournament, 8-1.

Wheeling earned 11 hits in the contest to Clarksburg’s six. Brady Ernest led Wheeling with three hits, all extra bases, including a home run and two doubles.

With the victory, Wheeling advances to play Post #60 Knights at 4:00 p.m. Friday to open the evening session on Dale Miler Field at Mylan Park in Morgantown.

Post 1 struck early with three of their four runs coming in the opening two innings after Cover brought home Chris Upton with a fielder’s choice to short. Cover worked six straight outs in the opening two innings before helping his cause on the bump with the run support.

Ernest doubled the lead for Wheeling with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the second, and a third run was added on a throwing error after a single by Braxton Billick.

Clarksburg tallied its first run in the top of the fifth as Jaxson Maglowski singled home Nathan Whiteman from third.

Post 13 brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth inning but came up empty as Post 1 reliever Ryland Robb shut down the Clarksburg offense with a pair of strikeouts to shut down the threat on the bases.

Robb helped his case as Cover did earlier in the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning, extending the lead to 5-1.

Post 1 added three more runs in the sixth to cushion the lead to 8-1 as Cover hit a sacrifice fly and Jackson Murray hit a two-run single.

Clarksburg threatened in the top of the seventh with a pair of baserunners but came up empty as Post 1 closed the door to take the contest.