Clarksburg Post 13 received a strong outing from starting pitcher Brandon Kroll Saturday morning, leading his squad to a convincing 11-0 victory over visiting Buckhannon Post 7. The game started at a weather friendly 9 a.m., and unfortunately for manager Steve Gandee, Buckhannon's bats never did wake up.
Kroll actually carried a one-hitter into the top of the seventh, with the only Buckhannon safety coming off the bat Jake Goss who delivered a bloop single in the fourth inning. Daniel Powell and Nate Kemper each collected hits in the seventh, but Post 7 could not scratch out a run off Kroll, who struck out six in his complete game performance.
"We are just in an overall team slump right now," Gandee said. "We just have to hang in there and keep battling and hopefully some balls will start falling in for us."
It was the second straight rough game for the Buckhannon offense, as they were baffled by Beckley starter Sean Poling in the second game of Thursday night's doubleheader. Post 7 falls to 8-13 with the loss, and a big week looming ahead.
Clarksburg scored two runs in the first inning, and followed that up with two more in the second. From there, Post 13 played add on baseball with Kroll continuing to hold the Buckhannon bats at bay.
Buckhannon travels to Morgantown today to face perennial state power Morgantown Post 2. It follows that up on Wednesday night facing another powerhouse on the road in Elkins Post 29.
"We have the players here, we are just not getting it done with the bats," Gandee said. "These will be a couple of critical weeks as we need find a rhythm before we get to the area tournament."
