By Bill Nestor
Bridgeport’s baseball season came to a disappointing end this past week, falling just three wins short of their goal – a state championship. Veteran mentor Bob Shields has built a dynasty in Tribe Territory. During his lengthy tenure in Bridgeport, Shields has claimed nine state championships and after last Monday’s two to one win over Morgantown, his team was ready to pack their bags and head to Charleston.
Indian ace Jacob Stravakis set the tone for the lock-up, going four innings, allowing just one unearned run and six hits. He handed the ball to Justin Duvall and picked up where Stavakis left off, going the remaining two innings to collect the save. Duvall struck out a pair of Mohigans and induced a key double play (the third turned in by Bridgeport in the affair) to keep the potent Morgantown bats silent.
The Indians picked up their first run in the second inning. Dylan Duvall came up with a one out single. Mark Biafore reached base on a fielder’s choice and scored when a Morgantown error on a Grant Lively grounder helped crack the scoreboard, First baseman Connor Blake delivered the only extra base hit of the affair and it proved to be the difference maker for the Tribe.
Blake’s double drove in Bridgeport’s second run and that was all of the run production Stravakis and Duvall would need. The Indians protected their home field advantage and at the same time applied pressure on the Mohigans, a team that hadn’t advanced to the state tournament in the last four seasons.
The reason I know that Morgantown hasn’t advanced past the regionals in four campaigns is because I have been the president of the Caleb Nutter fan Club. His father Chris, a former standout at Liberty High School and my former broadcast partner of over a decade, and I remain close to this day. Chris and his wife Staci moved to Morgantown when Caleb and his twin sister Kenleigh started their high school careers as freshmen at Morgantown High School. Their oldest daughter Kaitlyn was an exceptional cheerleader at Liberty and then went on to spend time cheering at WVU.
Caleb and Kenleigh (this year’s top Mohigan cheerleader) just raked in several awards to culminate their high school careers at the year end banquet. Caleb wasn’t ready to end his high school playing days, so he carried his team to a five to one win on Tuesday evening at Dale Miller Field to even the series at one to one. Nutter, a two sport star known for crushing running backs and quarterbacks, crushed a double that scored a pair of runs and helped to force a game three.
The rubber match was played on Wednesday in Bridgeport. Shields and company were as mad as hornets after having their 11 game win streak snapped in Touchdown City and they had home field advantage. The Indians were undefeated on their turf this season and they were just 21 outs from a trip down Interstate 79. The Tribe took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning when Zach Rohrig scored on a ground out by Biafore. Morgantown would go on to score one in the third and three runs in the fourth to claim a four to one victory and garner the regional crown. The loss ended Bridgeport’s season at 32 and six.
With two of the four golf majors in the books, Tiger Woods has made promising strides. Woods played four rounds at the Masters and a pair of rounds two weeks ago at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. The golf world is expected to see if he can continue to improve and eventually compete for another major championship. Speaking of golf, the ever popular “Tee It Up” weekly is just around the corner. I will be previewing the best courses around as golf season heats up!
That will do it for now. Until next week . . . take care and God Bless!