Gallery by Heather Belcher
West Virginia Miners manager Tim Epling is not ready to push the panic button just yet.
However, after a 6-3 loss to Champion City in game one of the doubleheader Wednesday at Linda K. Epling Stadium, the veteran manager is showing some signs of concern.
“We hope we can start to get some base runners. We had pretty good pitching, but we just had five hits. I don’t want to put pressure on them right now and it be a mental thing, but it is what it is. It is kind of frustrating,” Epling said.
Champion City shortstop Jayson Zmejkoski hit the first pitch of the game for a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Patrick Fultz.
The Kings doubled the lead in the third inning when they strung together three straight two-out singles. Zmejkoski had the first base knock before taking third on a single from Nick Dolan. He then scored on Fultz’s second RBI of the game.
Recording just one hit over the first two innings, the Miners came to life in the bottom of the third.
Coby Tweeten walked to open the inning and moved to second on a fielder’s choice. Using an extra life after his pop foul ball was misplayed by the catcher, Barrett Riebock doubled home Tweeten to cut the lead in half.
Marshall product Eddie Leon gave West Virginia a 3-2 lead when he hit a frozen rope over the left field fence for his second home run of the season.
Unfortunately for the Miners, they once again could not stand prosperity and gave the lead back to the visitors in the next frame.
Two fielding errors on routine plays, one of which looked to be a double-play ball, a single, a walk and a wild pitch plated two runs to put Champion City back in front for good at 4-3.
The Kings used more two-out magic for a run in the fifth and sixth inning.
Jonah Sutton’s double scored Edrick Padilla in the fifth and Dolan scored Alex Ryan with a single in the sixth.
Over the final four innings of the game, the Miners had just two hits and failed to have a runner reach second base over that span.
Connor Lockwood picked up the complete game win for the Kings, but it did have a dash of controversy.
Lockwood exceeded the 85 pitch limit for pitchers in the Prospect League when the pitch count was not properly communicated to the visitor’s dugout.
With the 91st pitch of the game, Lockwood coaxed a double play ground ball to end the game.
“I think we just went to the batter’s box and got in without any real plan of attack. That is what it looked like. We had some opportunities there to square some balls up,” Epling said. “We are only five games in, but give me two or three more games and we will see how it plays out. Right now we are going to try and figure out what we need to do on the defensive end. We will move some people around and let them get comfortable.”
The Miners did rebound in the nightcap thanks to strong pitching and a more efficient approach at the dish. Never trailing in the second game, West Virginia garnered the split with a 6-2 victory.
Ben Cornelius scattered six hits over five innings, allowing only one earned run. Hayden Frank sealed the win with two solid innings giving up a late run in the final inning.
Kevin Shea and Peyton Brown each drove in a pair of runs, while Riebock hit two doubles and had one RBI.
West Virginia (2-4) heads out on a four-game road trip starting Thursday in Champion City (2-5). Friday and Saturday the Miners travel to Terre Haute before returning to Champion City for a game Sunday.
The Miners are back home Tuesday when they host Chillicothe.
