South falls to Wheeling Park, 6-5, in extras

Parkersburg South’s Easton Walker celebrates double in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game at Wheeling Park. (Photo by Nick Henthorn)

WHEELING – It was pandemonium atop the Palace on the Hill on Tuesday, as the No. 2 Wheeling Park Patriots mounted a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the OVAC 5A semifinals against the No. 3 Parkersburg South Patriots, 6-5.

The game came down to two swings of the bat- a two-run home run by shortstop Nate Simon to tie the game 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh, and a walk-off solo shot by catcher Nolan Yanchak in the bottom of the eighth, after the senior had already been hobbled sliding into second base a few innings earlier, and was noticeably still bothered by his ankle during the at-bat.

“We’re going to start calling him Kurt Gibson,” Wheeling Park head coach Steve Myers joked after the game.

On a 3-1 count, Yanchak took a fastball far over the left field wall, and was mobbed by his teammates upon reaching home plate. The home run sent Wheeling Park to the OVAC 5A championship game against No. 1 Morgantown on Thursday at Harrison Central High School’s Mazeroski Field.

“I felt good going into it, a little nervous,” Yanchak said. “It was a great opportunity. The first swing, I pulled it foul and rolled my ankle, which I’d also done earlier in the game. The next time, I saw it well and went for it. It came off the bat hard.”

Parkersburg South’s Ben Howell delivers a pitch during Tuesday’s game at Wheeling Park. (Photo by Nick Henthorn)

“One of the best moments I’ve seen in high school baseball,” Myers said. “The young man hurts his ankle going into second, but he’s a catcher, he’s a tough kid, and to see him have that moment and for our team to have that moment was fantastic.”

Wheeling Park went down 5-1 after South’s turn at-bat in the top of the sixth, but plated two in the bottom half of the inning on a RBI single by Yanchak and sacrifice fly by Noah Short, and brought in two more with their backs against the wall, with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Jaxson Updegraff had singled to right field to bring Nate Simon to the plate, representing the tying run.

Simon took the first pitch he saw deep over the left field wall to send the game into extras.

“I think it was an old saying from Babe Ruth- “It’s hard to beat somebody who never gives up.” These guys never gave up,” Myers said. “Nate Simon hits a big two-run home run that puts us within striking distance, and the guys, our motto was ‘keep the line moving.’ Don’t give in, don’t give up. I couldn’t be happier for these guys.”

“This team fights,” Yanchak said. “We’ve come back in a lot of games this year. We played a double header against [Parkersburg South] earlier in the season, came back to win the game then, and it feels good to come away with the win again. We keep fighting.”

In the top of the eighth, CJ McCartney reached, and Parkersburg South was set on manufacturing a run. McCartney stole second before the visiting Patriots attempted a sacrifice bunt to move the runner over. The bunt came to pitcher Myles Gorby, who made a quick throw to third to cut down McCartney at the bag. Then, Yanchak fired up the Park dugout by throwing out another would-be base stealer at second to end the top half of the inning.

“This one stings,” Parkersburg South head coach Bryan Youngblood said. “We haven’t been to the championship at South in probably 11 years, but still this one stings, it’s not a ‘hey, we were there’ thing, we wanted to be here and we wanted to win this thing. Kudos to them, they’re a great baseball team, a state-caliber baseball team and they came through in the clutch.”

Tied 1-1 after four innings, Ashton Burr brought a run in for South in the fifth inning on a slow roller groundout to second base, and in the sixth, Youngblood’s crew drove in three more by taking advantage of a Park miscue. With two outs, a sky-high fly ball to shallow center resulted in a fielding error by Park, and Dylan Holliday scored to increase his team’s advantage to 3-1. Easton Walker laced a ball to right-center next to clear the bases, a two-run double which forced Park’s hand at the mound, putting in Myles Gorby to pitch. The junior stopped the damage, striking out the first batter he faced.

“When we went up 5-1, I knew it wasn’t going to stay like that because they can hit the ball,” Youngblood said of Park. “They hit the ball against us earlier in the season at our place. We were hoping that we could throw somebody who they hadn’t seen, get them to pop up- which we did, we got some outs.

“Kudos to those two kids who went yard to bring it to even and then to put them up. Their catcher was hurt, he was hobbling around. He put a swing on a fastball and did what he was supposed to do. That’s baseball.”

Kolten Whitmire pitched 5.2 innings for Park, striking out six. Gorby struck out two and allowed just one hit and no walks the rest of the way to pick up the win.

Parker Vannoy started the game for Parkersburg South, pitching five frames and striking out two. Ben Howell was saddled with the loss.

For Parkersburg South, they look to regroup as the regular season picks up again.

“We still have season left. We still have regionals,” Youngblood said. “I’d like to do some damage in regionals, maybe surprise a few people. It’s not a failed season for us, one game does not make a failed season. We get back on the horse and we go play baseball tomorrow. That’s what you have to do in this game.”

Wheeling Park and Morgantown are the first game of the OVAC championship marathon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, set to play Thursday at 5 p.m. at Mazeroski Field.

Wheeling Park won an OVAC title in 2023.

“Pretty exciting for these guys,” Myers said. “It’s a great group of players and young men and I couldn’t be happier that they get the chance to play for a banner and a trophy.”