Wheeling Central Bats Come Alive in Triumph Over Cameron

Leaving runners on base has been a thorn in the side of the Wheeling Central baseball team as of late.

However, it did not seem to be an issue on Thursday evening as the Maroon Knights delivered 10 hits and only left four runners on base and two runners in scoring position in an 11-1 mercy rule victory over Cameron (7-8) at the J.B. Chambers 1-470 Baseball Complex.

“We lost 8-6 against Oak Glen and left 15 runners in scoring position,” Wheeling Central coach Jason Rowe said. “We came to hit (Thursday), though. We were aggressive at the plate and when you get the hits, you get the runs.”

The Knights (7-11) didn’t need any hits in the first inning to plate three runs on a trio of Cameron errors and a Colby Hartman RBI groundout.

In the second inning, however, Central amassed three hits, including a two run knock from freshman leadoff hitter Eli Tucker, who eventually came around to score on an error for a 6-0 cushion.

Central removed all doubt in the third. Ben Foster, Carson Kuhns and Payton Hildebrand all delivered three straight bloop singles to load the bases and Tucker plated a run on an infield hit.

Then, Nick Tsoras supplied a sac-fly and Michael Toepfer capped the frame with a two-run double to give the Knights a 10-1 upperhand.

Tsoras sent the mercy rule into effect in the fifth with a RBI single to score Hildebrand.

On the mound, Toepfer was dominant — going the full five innings and allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out 10.

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