District Semifinal Preview: Wildcats to take on Belpre in district semifinals
Whiteoak enters the game with a 24-2 overall record.
The Wildcats have been on a tear in eight of their past nine games, clinching an undefeated Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship, plus winning a sectional title after defeating the Peebles Indians, 10-0 in their most recent tournament game on Tuesday, May 8.
This season, the pitching and hitting for the Wildcats have been at high levels, setting the standard of having the season they’ve accomplished thus far. Whiteoak has a trio of starting pitchers in Evan Brill, Traeten Hamilton and Chase Butler who all have pitched over 30 innings each this season, and all three have an ERA under 3.00.
In six games (37.1 innings), Brill has an ERA of 0.19 and a 6-0 overall record. Brill has 51 strikeouts, has walked 13 and has allowed just five runs (one earned) all season. Hamilton has pitched 31 innings in six games with a 5-1 record. In Hamilton’s outings, he has built a 1.58 ERA with 40 strikeouts. Chase Butler had made seven appearances this season, and in a team-high 41.2 innings, Butler has a 2.69 ERA with nine strikeouts. Mason Lehr has pitched 14.1 innings this season with a 1.47 ERA with seven strikeouts.
Trever Yeager has been solid from the mound this season with 10 innings pitched in six games and has set the WHS baseball record with six saves this season, including nine strikeouts and one run allowed, which was an unearned run.
At the plate, the Wildcats have four batters who have a batting average of over .400, with each batter having no less than 60 at-bats. Brill leads WHS with a .469 batting average with 21 RBI, plus has hit seven doubles, one triple and a home run this season in 64 at-bats.
Lehr is batting .444 for the 2018 season with 26 RBI, including nine doubles and two home runs in 63 at-bats. Hamilton had 72 at-bats this season with a .417 average with 13 RBI, 39 steals, nine doubles, two triples and has walked 24 times in 72 at-bats. Caleb West leads WHS with 37 RBI this season, as he’s batting .414 with nine doubles, two triples and one home run in 70 at-bats.
Near the .400 mark is Chase Carraher with a .385 batting average in 78 at-bats. Carraher has 28 RBI, 37 steals and four doubles for the season.
Looking at Belpre, they defeated the Racine Southern Tornadoes by a 4-2 score in the sectional finals, and their top pitcher is Nate Godfrey, who pitched a complete game (four strikeouts) against Southern in the sectional semifinal win as he has seven wins on the season.
According to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel baseball stats page (as of May 12), Logan Adams is batting .500 for the Golden Eagles. Also listed are Bailey Sprague (.347), Godfrey (.338) and Jesse Collins (.318). Adams is also listed with 26 RBI, 23 steals and eight doubles. Isaac Tullius has 24 RBI (nine doubles), and Collins has 21 RBI.
The Wildcats and Golden Eagles are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in their district semifinal game at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.