DeGenova, Offense Lead Bethany Past Barton In OVBL Finals Opener

BETHANY - Gian Degenova felt at home Friday night.

The Bethany College junior-to-be fired a complete game four-hitter as second-seeded Bethany doubled up No. 4 Barton, 8-4, in Game 1 of the Ohio Valley Baseball League's best-of-5 championship series despite smoke from the Canadian wildfires.

Pitching on his college field, Bethany Park, the Wheeling Park graduate struck out six and walked a pair. He finished with 88 pitches, of which 58 were strikes. He threw a first-pitch strike to 17 of the Braves he faced.

"I felt comfortable and my arm felt good. That doesn't happen a lot," DeGenova said. "They were hitting my fastball, but we were making the plays behind me."

Bethany (13-7-2) also won Game 1 last year and led 2-0 before Barton (8-13) won the next three to secure the championship.

"We know it's not over. Barton is a good team," DeGenova allowed.

Bethany player/manager B.B. Santimarino praised DeGenova's effort and echoed his thoughts.

"That's twice now that he's gone the distance. When he takes the mound you're almost guaranteed a good six and most likely seven innings from him. It's good to have a guy like that."

Bethany, which outlasted No. 3 Colerain in a three-game semifinal series, banged out an eye-popping 17 hits, with all nine starters having at least one and leadoff hitter, Russ Schwertfeger, collecting four, three singles and a double.

"That's one of our stronger parts," Santimarino said. "When we get all of our guys here, we have a lot of bats in the lineup for sure. We've got big bats and then we have guys that just hit for contact."

Lex Wilhelm, a left-handed hitting John Marshall product, finished a double shy of the cycle. He tripled in the first, singled in a run in the third and belted a long home run to right in the fifth.

"He's needed a breakout game like this," Santimarino noted. "Hopefully this carries over a couple more games."

Bethany scored twice in the bottom of the second and added two more runs in the third to build a 4-1 advantage.

Barton cut the deficit to 4-2 in the fourth on a Will Balgo single before Wilhelm's blast bumped the count to 5-2. Balgo pulled the Braves to within 5-4 with a two-run homer to deep left in the sixth, but Bethany responded with three runs on six hits in the bottom of the inning.

Balgo finished with three RBI for Barton.

Gavyn Romanyak suffered the loss. He threw 129 pitches in six frames, with 82 being strikes.

"They hit the ball. There's not much you can do when a team hits the ball like they did," veteran Barton manager Billy Timko said.

Game 2 will be played, weather permitting, Sunday on Henning Field in Pramesa Park in Crescent. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m. Game 3 will be back in Bethany on Monday at 6.