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Wheeling Post 1 rallies for victory

WEIRTON — For the past couple of years, Wheeling Post 1 dominated American Legion baseball in the Area 1 section of the Northern Panhandle. So much so that they’ve won back-to-back state American Legion Baseball championships.

The Weirton Post 10 club gave notice Wednesday that the competition got better, and that didn’t escape the keen eye of veteran Post 1 coach Mark Delbrugge. His club rallied for a 7-5 comeback win at Ed Bowman Field.

“They are a much, much improved team,” Delbrugge said after his team scored five runs in a wild sixth inning to raise its record 10-5. “That is going to be a good team in the area. It is not going to be a walk in the park in the area.”

Post 10 (5-7) returned to action after a weekend in Elkins for the Hillbilly Invitational. It scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings and took a 3-2 lead into the top of the sixth Wednesday behind lanky right hander Brandon Waugh. He limited the Post 1 bats to two hits through the first five innings.

“Through five innings I was very proud of the way we were playing,” second-year Post 10 coach Jason Schwartzmiller said. “It looked like, the way it was going, we had everything set up for a win, but baseball is not a five-inning game. It is seven innings. We gave the one inning away and that came back to haunt us.”

Waugh’s second hit batsman of the game, this time to Post 1 center fielder Tyler Reidel, got the Wheeling sixth inning started.

Delbrugge went with some small ball as Jacob Shia followed with a sacrifice bunt moving Reidel to second. After Vic Giovengo walked, Ross Salvadori ripped a two-strike single to right field off of Post 10 relief pitcher Michael Mills, driving home Reidel with the run that tied it at 3-3.

“We got a couple of timely hits finally,” Delbrugge said. “We haven’t had that here lately and ran the bases a little bit better.”

In addition to Salvadori’s timely hit, Jarrett DelBrugge and Chad Harper plated runs with singles.

Post 1 finished the inning with five runs and took advantage of three Post 10 errors. But Post 10, which had 11 hits in the game, did not go quietly as it fought back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, closing the gap to 7-5.

Three straight singles from Zac Sacripanti, Jacob Rosnick and Marques McHaffie along with a sacrifice fly to deep center field by Tyler Wright plated the two runs. Wright earlier smashed a home run over the center field fence in the second inning off of Post 1 righty Zach Hickman, who was making his first start of the season.

“We were a little thin on arms because we’ve played a lot of games lately,” Delbrugge said. “We were hoping to get him into the sixth inning and Chad (Harper), came in and threw strikes and got a couple of lucky breaks there and got out of it.”

Lefty Marco Marino went yard on Hickman in the third for his first career homer as a Brooke varsity or Post 10 player. Justin Pennybacker’s fourth-inning sacrifice fly to right field plated Rosnick, who had singled.

Post 10 threatened in the bottom of the seventh with a Dalton Valero infield single and a Sacripanti hit. Rosnick hit a rocket with runners at first and third, but Delbrugge, the Post 1 shortstop, leaped high to snare the ball for the final out.

Post 10 will return to Bowman tonight to host St. Clairsville in a doubleheader. Schwartzmiller said it will be another stern test.

Meanwhile, Post 1 gets a couple of days off before a trip south this weekend, playing doubleheaders at Beckley on Saturday and Morgantown Sunday.

Wheeling 7, Weirton 5

Post 1 011 005 0 — 7 5 1

Post 10 011 102 0 — 5 11 5

POST 1 (10-5): Hickman (WP, 7K, 1W), Harper (6, S, 0K, 0W) and Rine. Rine S, RBI, R; Delbrugge S; Harper 2S, RBI; Reidel S, 2SB, R; Salvatori S, RBI, R.

POST 10 (5-7): Waugh (LP, 3K, 5W), Mills (6, 1K, 0W) and McHaffie. Logston S; Sacripanti D, S, R; Rosnick 2S, 2R, SB; McHaffie S, RBI; Wright HR, S, 2RBI; Pennybacker S, RBI; Marino HR, RBI.

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