Andrew Grimm MAKING A PLAY — Weir second baseman Teddy Glyptis gets ready to make a throw after fielding a ground ball against Catholic Central.

After starting the week with back-to-back losses, the Red Riders made it back-to-back wins with an 11-2 victory over visiting Catholic Central on Friday evening.

The win moves Weir High to 8-10 on the season.

“Earlier in the week we weren’t fully focused on what we needed to do … (Thursday in a 5-0 win over Linsly) Aleks Zanieski pitched a great game and we really put the bat on the ball and (Friday) we showed up,” Weir head coach Dave Cowden said. “Baseball is game where it’s no secret, you have to throw strikes, put the ball in play and play defense, there’s three phases to it and you have to have at least win two of the three to win a game. We don’t always do that. I think we’re capable of better than our record shows, but we have to go out and do it more consistently.

“Steubenville Central is young but they battled and they’re well-coached. They made a lot of plays in the field. That team is going to compete all year and they’re going to sneak up on some people.”

Andrew Grimm THROWING ACROSS — Catholic Central third baseman Joseph Vranish fires across for an out against Weir High.

After both teams plated a run in the first inning, the Red Riders scored the next nine runs to take control, a five-run bottom of the second proving to be more than enough to make the difference.

“We’re seeing flashes of what we can do when we put it together,” Cowden said. “When we’re right, I think we can play with anybody. The problem is when we don’t show up, we can lose to anyone so that’s the challenge. We have to consistently show up in all three phases.

“Our kids work hard, they’re good kids and we’re going to keep working and getting better. Our focus is on putting it together to make a run at the end of the year.”

The Crusaders (1-7), scored a run in the top of the sixth and were able to keep battling to avoid having the game end early from the run rule.

“We told the team before coming over that the goal was to compete for all seven innings,” Central head coach Andrew Henry said. “We knew Weir was going to make us compete. We had a couple tough innings, that has kind of been our MO this year, we have one disastrous inning that gets away from us.

“We’ve had our fair share of challenges of going against bigger schools so far, and we don’t shy away from it. We’re going to keep battling and getting better.”

Matt Geer had a big day for the Red Riders, driving in three runs at the plate while tossing the first three innings to earn the win on the mound, striking out three and walking one.

It was also a big day for fellow senior Cayden Braswell, who doubled twice and also plated three runs.

Liam Williamson tripled, while Nick DiMatteis, Mason Scott and Aleks Zanieski each plated a run.

DiMatteis worked two scoreless relief innings and Teddy Glyptis went the final 1 1/3 without giving up a run.

For the Crusaders, Tommy Symington had two base knocks and an RBI and Andrew Napoli also drove in a run.

UP NEXT

Catholic Central: Had a quick turnaround with a scheduled noon game Saturday at Wellsville before returning home Monday for the first time in six games to host Wheeling Central.

Weir High: Has the weekend off before welcoming Big Red on Monday.

Weir High 11, Catholic Central 2

CC 1-0-0 0-0-1 0 — 2 7 3

WH 1-5-1 0-3-1 x — 11 8 0

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (1-7): Jones (LP, 7R, 3ER, 5H, 2K, 4BB), Corabi (2IP, 4R, 4ER, 3H, 2K, 4BB) and L. Bryan. Z. Bryan S; Fabbro S; Corabi S; Symington 2S, RBI; Napoli S, RBI.

WEIR HIGH (8-10): Geer (WP, 3IP, 1R, 1ER, 3H, 3K, 1BB), DiMatteis (2IP, 0R, 1H, 0K, 0BB), Upright (2/3IP, 1R, 1ER, 1H, 0K, 3BB), Glyptis (1 1/3IP, 0R, 2H, 1K, 0BB) and Williamson. Glyptis S; Glass S; DiMatteis RBI; Scott S, RBI; Zanieski S, RBI; Geer S, 3RBIs; Braswell 2S, 3RBIs; Williamson T.