Fighting Til the Very End

Coming into the game 4-28 this game was one of the mountaineers last chances to salvage their season and send out their seniors with a victory, but as fate would have it this wasn’t the game they were hoping for. Despite a great performance from Josh Wilson and the rest of the mountaineers, it just wasn’t enough as the Transylvania Pioneers squeaked out a win 4-2 in the first game of the double-header series between the teams.

The first inning was scoreless, but the second inning was big for the mountaineers as they looked to take control. Pitcher Josh Wilson started the inning with 2 strikeouts to leave Transylvania scoreless in the first two innings. Senior Devin Belleville then proceeded to ignite the crowd and his teammates after crushing a homerun to deep centerfield that gave us the first score of the game.

The 4th inning proved to be more interesting after Transylvania had a triple that also produced an RBI and tied the game up. Josh Wilson put away Transylvania this inning by closing with 2 strikeouts. The mountaineers had a great opportunity in this inning to take control of the game when a bunt by Andrew Akins loaded the bases. Nicholas Bottom came in to get a single and RBI, then he proceeded to steal second base, but the mountaineers could not take over as they ended the inning with two runners in scoring position.

The 5th and 6th innings were scoreless, but with the seventh inning stretch also came some more runs. Transylvania had a batter walked, which he then went on to steal 2nd and 3rd and a sac fly to right field pushed Transylvania into the lead at 3-2. As time was winding down the mountaineers knew they needed some momentum if they wanted to come back and win this game. And they got that big play when Pitcher Josh Wilson proceeded to end the top of the 8th by getting his 6th and 7th strikeouts of the game which fueled his teammates with energy and got the crowd back into the game.

Even with this momentum the mountaineers couldn’t seem to produce any runs as they went into the 9th still down 1. The Pioneers came into the 9th looking to close the game out as they had a sac fly to right field that put the score at 4-2. The mountaineers saw that they were running out of time but they couldn’t claw their way back into as they went three up and three down to finish the game. Although they gave it everything they had, including an inspired performance with 7 strikeouts for Josh Wilson, the mountaineers came out on the losing end of this one, but they look forward to wrapping up their season with their final game against Translyvania.