Some of the Winfield baseball team's offensive problems can be traced to the Generals being Class AAA. Or can they?
The Generals are 11-10 entering the stretch run of the season and although coach Steve Hensley’s team is in the state’s biggest class for the first time, nobody on the coaching staff is blaming their struggles on the move up.
Besides, Winfield has always played a schedule that included Class AAA teams, but still have two Class AA titles this century (2001 and 2002).
“You still have to hit the ball and catch the ball,” Hensley said. “This is not a Class AAA-Class AA thing.”
One of the more noticeable statistical anomalies is in home runs. Last year, the Generals hit 22 as a team, but this season – with 11 games remaining – only have seven (one each by seven players).
Winfield has won five of its last seven games with losses to South Charleston and Hurricane. Among its remaining opponents are Nitro and Riverside.
The sectionals in the state’s toughest region begin on May 11. Among Winfield’s roadblocks to the Class AAA state tournament are defending champion Nitro, along with other Mountain State Athletic Conference powers Cabell Midland, Hurricane and Spring Valley.
St. Albans' revenge tour
Coach Rick Whitman will have St. Albans on the Red Dragons revenge tour this week as they move to the end of the regular season and prepare for the sectionals (St. Albans is also in Region 4). All of the teams that St. Albans plays this week have beaten the Red Dragons, who have won 10 of their last 13 games.
They play host to Capital tonight, George Washington Wednesday, and travel to face Riverside on Friday. The Capital game is a late addition to the schedule. Mountain State Athletic Conference teams block off two games for the MSAC Tournament in case they finish in the top four and are forced to play a first round game and a consolation or championship. If a team didn’t finish in the top four, it has the opportunity to add one game to reach its 32-game limit, which led to the St. Albans-Capital meeting.
Whitman admits it’ll be a tall order to survive Region 4, but is undoubtedly happy with his team’s progress.
“We’d like to finish strong these last two weeks,” said Whitman, who is hoping his team can finished with 17 or 18 victories. “We’ve been up and down.”
Wilson steadying young Patriots
George Washington senior Tyler Wilson had an outstanding week for the Patriots, pitching 12 innings and picking up a pair of victories. The youthful Patriots have leaned on their upperclassman, and he delivered by improving his record to 4-3.
Against Princeton, he pitched five innings, giving up three runs with eight strikeouts and three walks. In a victory over Logan on Saturday, he went seven innings with eight strikeouts, one walk and no earned runs.
Three-sport star shining at Buffalo
The conversation around the Buffalo water cooler hasn’t necessarily been the health of star left-hander Jason Lewis, but the emergence of one of the school’s top athletes – Garrett Burdette.
Burdette, who is a state qualifier in golf and a state tournament participant in basketball, had a no-hitter against Sissonville and a two-hitter against Wahama as the Bison learned to win without Lewis.
Buffalo’s only loss last week was to Point Pleasant, when the Bison squandered a four-run lead with three errors in the bottom of the seventh en route to a 6-5 loss to the Black Knights.
“You can look at that loss two different ways,” Buffalo coach Jimmy Tribble said. “You can learn from a game like that or get worse. I think they learned a lesson that you have to finish a game.”
Rich Stevens, a sportswriter for the Charleston Daily Mail, covers West Virginia for MaxPreps.
