TENNERTON - Buckhannon extended its winning streak to three games Sunday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader from the Morgantown Junior Legion team.
Post 7 won the first game 8-2 and completed the sweep with a 14-4 victory.
Nate Kemper provided Post 7 with a much needed quality start in the opener, pitching five innings of two-hit baseball for the convincing victory.
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley
Buckhannon’s Corey Reed leaps into the air for an errant throw as Morgantown’s Colton Sanders hustles down the first base line Sunday in American Legion baseball action. Post 7 swept both games of the doubleheader.
The righthander only walked two while striking out eight with both of his runs being of the unearned variety. Nathan Matthews came on to pitch the final two innings, adding two more strikeouts and not allowing a run.
"It was a good outing out of Nate, and we were able to take advantage of our chances when we had the big innings," Buckhannon head coach Jeff Reed said. "We have a big week of games ahead of us, so getting a start like that was critical."
Offensively, Buckhannon erupted with a five-run fourth inning, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 lead. The frame included consecutive singles from Logan Moneypenny, Dalton Westfall, and Daniel Powell, setting the table for a two-RBI single off the bat of Drew Gandee. Nate Kemper and Karac Seech drove home Powell and Gandee before a Matthews triple plated Tyler Wood with the inning's final run.
Post 7 added single runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, providing all of the necessary insurance. Matthews, Moneypenny and Westfall all provided two hits in the 10-hit Buckhannon offensive attack. Jim Rice and Brady Matthews each collected base hits for Morgantown.
Buckhannon rallied from a 3-0 early deficit in Game 2 to claim a six-inning decision and complete the sweep. Morgantown used four different pitchers and gave up 12 walks in the defeat. They also hit two Post 7 hitters.
"We know that they ran out of pitching there at the end, but we did what we had to do in this one," Reed said. "We had some better at bats than we have been having, and we looked a lot better defensively than we have recently. We talked about improving the defense going into today and our coaching staff just told the guys to have fun and stay loose. That seems to work better with this group - when they are loose and not playing tight, we seem to get better results."
Dalton Westfall pitched the first four innings to record the victory. The righthander scattered five hits, walked two and struck out two. Lefthander Corey Reed pitched the final two innings providing hitless relief.
Buckhannon scored in every inning, utilizing a six-run bottom of the fourth to blow open the contest. The big frame extended a 6-4 lead to 12-4. Single runs in the bottom of the fifth and the bottom of the sixth ended the game early.
Nate Kemper led the Buckhannon offense, recording three of the team's seven hits, and providing two RBIs. Daniel Powell also provided two RBIs with Westfall, Logan Moneypenny, and Reed all collecting hits as well. Moneypenny and Reed each scored three runs. Leadoff hitter Tyler Wood reached all five plate appearances despite not getting an at bat. He was walked four times and hot once.
Starting pitcher Tyler Shorter had the only RBI for the Morgantown offense. Post 2 had five total hits in the contest.
Buckhannon raises its record to 6-8 with the sweep and will entertain Morgantown Senior Legion today at 7 p.m.
face the Junior squad Tuesday night. It appears that Reed is using several pitchers in quasi bullpen sessions over this stretch as the squad prepares for Wednesday night's area game against perennial power Elkins.
With a pair of doubleheaders set for next weekend, Post 7 is looking at ten games over an eight-day span.
