Beckley – There was no secret about what was at stake Wednesday night at Linda K. Epling Stadium when Beckley hosted Mercer County rival Princeton in the second round of the Class AAA Region 3, Section 2 tournament.
The winner would live to see another day, while the loser would be hanging up the spikes until next season.
The night belonged to the Tigers.
Riding a strong pitching performance from freshman Brody Combs and a six-run second inning, the visitors knocked off the Flying Eagles 10-3.
Princeton will now travel to Fayette County Thursday to battle Oak Hill in another elimination game. The winner will advance to play Greenbrier East Friday in the sectional championship game. The Spartans need one win to take the sectional title in the double-elimination format.
“The biggest thing I told them before the game was let’s get on them early, have a little energy and have some fun,” Princeton head coach Brandon Dunford said. “When it comes to sectionals, everybody is 0-0 and anything can happen. If we stay hot, and this group can, we can beat anybody. I have some guys that are hungry. Even my freshman are hungry. They play hard and you can really see it.”
After the two teams traded runs in the first inning, Princeton rode some two-out magic to a decisive lead in the second frame.
A walk and a hit batter gave Princeton a pair of runners before the second Beckley error of the game scored a run for a 2-1 lead.
Another free pass loaded the bases for Grant Cochran who singled home two more runs for a 4-1 lead. A walk to Combs re-loaded the bases before Lucas Monaghan smacked the second two-run single of the inning pushing the lead out to 6-1.
Two more walks brought home the sixth run of the inning for a 7-1 lead and Princeton was never really challenged the rest of the way.
“The biggest thing I have been telling them is, we just have to put the ball in play. We don’t have to do a lot, just a little,” Dunford said. “Once you put the ball in play, it is up to the defense to make the plays. When they didn’t tonight, we capitalized.”
Beckley head coach Michael McKinney knew giving Princeton extra chances would come back to haunt the Flying Eagles.
“Connor threw a good game, but we had some errors at the wrong time and some walks that just killed us,” McKinney said. “Every team makes errors, but all year it seemed like we just made them at the wrong time.”
Staked to a six-run advantage, Combs made it stick by never giving Beckley life to mount a comeback. The young freshman pitched all seven innings, scattered five hits and allowed only one earned run.
Before the game, Dunford said if his young pitcher had a good outing, he liked his team’s chances for a win.
“He is a freshman that has come in and he has always been our guy that we can rely on,” Dunford said. “He commanded the strike zone and he utilizes the fastball to set up his breaking pitches. We needed a solid performance on the mound tonight and he gave us seven strong innings.”
Combs was fully aware of the importance of the game, as well as the fact that his team needed a big game from him Wednesday.
“They had beat us the last two times in close games, but tonight it was do-or-die. So tonight was the best time to get that first win,” Combs said. “We tried to get out ahead early. We haven’t been doing that lately. Hopefully we can carry that same mentality over to tomorrow and we can get a cushion for whoever is on the bump as well. This boosts our confidence a lot to have a game like this.”
A single from Halsey scored two runs in the fifth inning and gave Princeton a 10-1 lead. Halsey, Cochran and Monaghan combined to drive in eight of the 10 runs for the Tigers.
“You want to get runners on and then you want your big guys to come in and produce runs,” Dunford said. “Grant, Lucas and Brody are guys that we needed to put the bat on the ball. They did it and drove in some runs. Our defense held up today, but most of all, that pitching tonight really held up.”
Beckley added a run in the fifth on an RBI-single from Andrew Lovell and an unearned run in the sixth.
“Princeton is a solid team and they are hot at the right time. It seems like we went cold late in the year. We came out of the Coppinger Tournament hot, but then we went cold,” McKinney said. “We just couldn’t get anything going. It was emotional for the seniors. They knew what was on the line, but they have had the raw end of, unfortunately. They had Covid and I am the third coach they have had, but they have always played hard.”
The Thursday contest will start at 6:30 p.m. on Jerry Epperly Field.
