Weirton Bobcats grab the upper hand in OVBL championship series

CRESCENT -- Playing in its first Ohio Valley Baseball League championship series Wednesday night, Weirton was unfazed.

The third-seeded Bobcats (12-9) scored early and often in taking down No. 1 Barton (15-7) by a 6-1 count in Game 1 on Pramesa Park's Henning Field.

With the victory, Weirton, which swept second-seeded Moundsville in the semifinals, can take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 format tonight when the series resumes at the John Muth Recreational Complex on the hilltop in Mingo Junction. Game time is 6 p.m.

Game 3 will be played at 1 p.m. Sunday back in Belmont County.

Matt Komorowski struck out seven, scattered six hits and issued five free passes in earning the mound win. The 2017 Weir High grad threw 116 pitches, with 71 being strikes.

"We're just our here playing baseball and it got a little personal early on. I just took it like that and wanted to win," Komorowski said. "We love playing together. This is a great bunch of guys."

After yielding a run on three hits in the bottom of the first, the righthander settled into a groove as he allowed a single in the second before retiring nine straight Braves and 12 of the next 13.

"Matt pitched well for us. He kept the ball in the zone," Weirton player/manager Jacob Rosnick said.

Weirton bunched three two-out singles together in the first inning, with Nick Leonard's driving in Rosnick.

The Braves evened the score in the bottom of the inning as Dmitri Collaros singled and went to second when Eli Petho walked. Kaden Blomquist sliced a double down the left field line than chased in Collaros, but Petho was erased on a nice relay from Leonard to Rosnick to catcher Larry Bielewski.

Bielewski hit a two-out solo homer to deep left in the second inning. It was the sixth straight game in which he has went deep.

"I'm seeing the ball pretty good," The No. 9 hitter in the lineup admitted. "But my teammates put me into good positions to see good pitches."

That run turned out to be all Komorowski needed as he sent the Braves down in order in the third and fourth frames.

Weirton touched home plate twice in the fourth to make it 4-1 when Joey Nave raced home after a third strike was dropped and the throw went to first to retire the batter. Geno Pierro then singled home Donovan Spencer who had reached base after being hit with a pitch.

Leonard and Connor Hyndman had a sacrifice flies in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to close out the scoring.

"You've got to win three games to win the championship. That's only one," veteran Barton manager Billy Timko said. "We started out the Maynard (semifinal) series like this and bounced back. We played like crap tonight and I don't know why."

Chris Gillette led the Bobcats with three singles. Elijah Gillette and Rosnick each singled twice.

Collaros had a pair of singles for Barton. The Braves stranded eight runners.

Chris Gillette will take the hill tonight for Weirton. Barton will counter with Ben Taylor.