Wheeling Post 1 Captures Area 1 Title, Awaits State Tourney
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WHEELING -- On a hazy day at Wheeling Park High School, one thing was clear when Wheeling Post 1 and Parkersburg Post 15 took to the field Friday: both teams would be going to the West Virginia American Legion state tournament, where two teams from each area advance, but only one would hoist the Area 1 Championship.
Playing in game two of a best-of-three series, Post 1 defeated Post 15 3-2 to win their fourth-straight Area title and head to state competition with a ton of momentum.
"We talked to these guys early on in June and there’s two goals," Post 1 head coach Jon-Michael Brunner said. "Area 1, because we know Parkersburg is a good team and a great program. Coach Goodwin always gets the best out of those guys. So to be able to come in and beat those guys twice in the Area tournament and roll into next week is always a goal of ours when the season starts. And then like we talked to these guys, next week is a beast of its own.
"We do our best to try to prepare them with our schedule early on and throughout the season to get these guys in the best position to be competitive next week. We like what we see. Our pitching staff’s done an unbelievable job. Offense came around when we needed it."
Post 15 grabbed the early advantage after Cooper Cancade knocked an RBI single in the top of the first, but Post 1 knotted the score after Rhyder Dlesk drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the second.
After that, two powerful swings got Post 1 in front.
Chris Upton blasted a triple off the centerfield wall, and Jake Brown followed with a no-doubt home run over the left field fence to push Wheeling ahead, 3-1, in the bottom of the fifth.
Brown also earned the win on the mound, starting the game and going 5.1 innings, striking out three and allowing two runs on four hits.
"On the mound he battled for us," Brunner said of Brown. "He’ll admit it, he didn’t have his best stuff today, but he’s a competitor. And when we took him out, we put him at second base, and you know, that's all he wants to do, he wants to play and he’s happy to. Obviously we’re happy that he was the guy to come up in that spot and hit the home run. He really picked himself up there, and his teammates. He’s been swinging it well, he’s been playing good baseball for us. He did a great job today."
Kayden Knapp entered in the sixth for Post 1 after Parkersburg's CJ McCartney doubled to start off the inning. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and Cam Cumpston brought him in on a ground out.
That would be all the offense Knapp would allow though, holding down Parkersburg to keep them from equalizing in the sixth and seventh. The John Marshall product did not allow a hit and struck out one.
"He did an unbelievable job, complete gutsy effort," Brunner said of Knapp. "He’s been a great kid since coming with us, really our guys here took him in and he totally bought into Coach Dustin [Henry] on the mound, and he’s listened and he’s a really coachable kid. For him to come in in a position like that, he showed a lot of guts, and he held his composure and did a great job. It was exactly what we thought he was going to do. We’re really happy for him to do that, and hopefully next week when we’re in tough spots, we can rely on that."
Seth Menarchek took the loss for Post 15, allowing three runs on four hits in 4.2 innings on the mound.
"My strategy was to throw Seth Menarchek, who has a lot of off-speed stuff and he doesn’t overpower anyone," Parkersburg head coach Mike Goodwin said. "I was trying to get Wheeling on their front foot a little bit more offensively, and he is a little more crafty than a power pitcher. So that was my strategy from a pitching perspective, and he did a great job at it. Just made the one mistake where we had a two-run shot."
"We were just one hit away in that sixth inning. I think I had second and third with one out. That could have changed this game right there.
"But that’s what it came down to from an offensive perspective. Could have gone either way. Wheeling is tough top-to-bottom."
The West Virginia American Legion state tournament will run from July 22 to July 27 in Beckley.