WEIRTON — The first inning told the story.

The Weir baseball team got off to a great start, while Catholic Central had an inning to forget. The Red Riders recorded 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning en route to a 15-1 victory in five innings Tuesday evening at the Weir High Baseball Field.

“It was a good start,” Weir (4-3) head coach Dave Cowden said. “Steubenville Central is a well coached team. They are a young team. They are going to be good. They are going to get better throughout the year.

“I am proud of the kids. They stayed back, and they hit the ball.

“This is a tough place to play at. It’s tough. It can be windy here, and the sun was out. We were able to score some early runs today.”

It was just one of those games for the Crusaders.

“We’re very young,” Catholic Central (2-1) head coach Don Young. “We are inexperienced. Joe took a couple of hitters to find his release point. We just made way too many mistakes. We had too many errors.

“The kids played with energy. They kept playing. That is all I can ask. We are going to get better every day. We are learning on the fly. That’s where we are right now.

“Weir is a very good team. Weir is good, regardless of their record. They are one of the better teams in the area. I am proud of our kids for hanging in there. They kept playing.”

The visitors scored a run in the second to make it a 10-1 ballgame, however, the hosts answered right back with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to increase their advantage to 14-1.

The Red Riders capped the scoring with a run in the fourth.

“We were able to get some young kids in there,” Cowden said. “Nagy started on the mound. He pitched in a scrimmage. Nico Glass threw a bullpen session. Then, we brought Horstman in, and he is a freshmen. They threw well.

“It was a good game. I was happy with our effort.”

Leyland Nagy started on the mound for the boys in black, and he pitched the first two innings on his way to recording the win. Nagy struck out two and walked two. Glass pitched the next two innings. He did not record a strikeout while walking two. Justin Hortsman pitched the fifth. He struck out two without walking a batter.

The visitors from Jefferson County used three pitchers in the game, including two in the first inning.

Joe Vranish started the game, and he took the loss. Vranish did not record a strikeout while walking one in his 2/3 of an inning of worked. He was replaced in the first by Michael Fabbro. Fabbro struck out one and walked one in his 1/3 inning of work. Michael DiCarlo pitched the final three innings. He struck out three and walked one.

The Red Riders collected 12 hits in the win — two of which went for extra bases.

Individually, Lucas McAllister tallied a single, a double and five RBI; Hortsman had a double and an RBI and Cayden Braswell and Evan Kaczmarek each tallied a single and two RBI. Also, Colson Kimmel, Aleks Zanieski and Nick DiMatteis each delivered a single and an RBI and Teddy Glyptis singled twice. Finally, Nagy singled.

The boys in blue picked up four hits in the game – one of which was a double.

Individually, Eli Fayak finished with a double, Vranish singled twice and Brendan Kuebler contributed a base hit. Also, Tommy Symington chipped in with an RBI.

The Crusaders will have to have short memories and forget about this game as they move forward into the rest of their season.

“No doubt,” Young said. “We came prepared to play, but just everything that could happen did happen. The sun was up. We missed some routine outs. We’re just going to have to try and get better. It was a tough game, but our kids hung in there. They battled.”

Weir 15, Catholic Central 1

Catholic Central 0 10 00 – 1 4 3

Weir (10) 40 1X – 15 12 0

CATHOLIC CENTRTAL (2-1): Vranish LP (2/3IP, 0K, 1BB), Fabbro (1/3IP, 1K, 1BB), DiCarlo (3IP, 3K, 1BB) and Meeks. Fayak D; Vranish 2S; Symington RBI; Kuebler S.

WEIR (4-3): Nagy WP (2IP, 2K, 2BB), Glass (2IP, 0K, 2BB), Hortsman (1IP, 2K, 0BB) and McAllister. Nagy S; Glyptis 2S; McAllister S, D, 5RBI; Kimmel S, RBI; Lancaster S; Braswell S, 2RBI; Zanieski S, RBI; Kaczmarek S, 2RBI; DiMatteis S, RBI; Horstman D, RBI.