Game Recaps: A State Semifinals
June 2, 2017
By Greg Williams
West Virginia Executive Director of Scouting
Day one of the 2017 West Virginia state tournament resulted in two favorites advancing to Saturday's A title game, but the path to Saturday was vastly different in each game.
Ravenswood 5, TYGARTS VALLEY 4 (8 innings)
Tygarts Valley jumped on Ravenswood 2-0 in the 1st inning thanks in part to two Red Devils' errors. The Bulldogs doubled the lead to 4-0 in the 3rd inning on an RBI single by Caleb Riggleman, a Fairmont State recruit, who later scored himself on a wild pitch.
Ravenswood began a climb back into the game in the 4th inning cutting the lead to 4-1 when Lakin Tucker hit a sacrifice fly to score Chase Swain. Stephen Dawson and Michael Bennett each had RBI singles in the 5th inning to bring the Red Devils to within one at 4-3 Ravenswood drew even in the 6th inning when Nathan Curtis tripled and scored on a single by Tucker.
Curtis, No. 45 in the WV Class of 2017, went the final 4.1 innings on the mound in relief of Swain allowing the Red Devils to dig out of the early hole. Curtis earned the win in the 8th inning when Ciah Kennedy scored from 1st base on a walk-off RBI double off the bat of Nic Taylor.
Charleston Catholic 2, Wheeling Central 0
Brandon Combs, No. 11 in the WV Class of 2018, tossed 6.2 innings of two-hit, shutout baseball to lead the Irish to Saturday's state title game against Ravenswood.
Charleston Catholic got the only runs they would need, and as it turned out the only runs of the game, in the 1st inning. Luke McKown led off with a triple and scored the game's first run on a Wheeling Central error. Combs drove in the insurance run with a fielder's choice later in the inning.
Today's SCHEDULE
Friday, June 2 - Class AAA
10:00 #1 Hurricane (29-7) vs. #4 Morgantown (21-8)
1:00 #4 St. Albans (30-9) vs. #7 Washington (24-5)
Friday, June 2 - Class AA
5:00 #1 Bridgeport (27-6) vs. James Monroe (17-11)
8:00 #2 Wayne (30-3) vs. Weir (18-10)
# Current West Virginia Metro News power ranking in classification
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Saturday, June 3
10:00 - Class A (Ravenswwod vs. Charleston Catholic)
1:00 - Class AAA (Semifinal Winners)
4:00 - Class AA (Semifinal Winners)