Webster County Forces Decisive Game Three in the Class A Region 3 Baseball Series

Neither Webster County or Greater Beckley Christian have played in the Baseball State Tournament in Charleston.

Saturday afternoon, that fact will change for one of the schools in the decisive Class A Region 3 Championship game at Linda K. Epling Stadium.

After the Crusaders took game one Thursday, the Highlanders evened the best-of-3 series Friday afternoon with a 7-3 win.

The first pitch for game three is set for 1 p.m.

"Yesterday we stumbled a little bit. I am not taking anything away from the Greater Beckley win but with the new field and a new team we played, that kind of got us (yesterday)," Webster County head coach Jerry Skidmore said. "That, plus some down time because of all of the rain. We came alive today and played the baseball we are capable of. I am just proud of our team for playing clean baseball and making it count."

The game was originally scheduled for Upper Glade, but due to the rain and field conditions, the contest was moved back to Beckley with the Highlanders being the home team.

Unlike Thursday, Webster County took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning and never relinquished the advantage the remainder of the contest.

The game one struggles centered around passed balls that allowed the Crusaders to rally.

"I rely on my son (freshman catcher Hunter Skidmore). I told him there wasn't going to be any passed balls or he wasn't going to ride home with me," coach Skidmore said, playfully. "He had a great game behind the plate. I am super proud of him. We cleaned it up and played like we are capable of."

The battery for the Highlanders was strong in general in game two. While Skidmore was preventing runners from freely advancing, freshman ace Maddox Brown was putting forth a solid effort on the hill.

"We rely on our No. 8. He is our guy. He was there for us today and we are glad we got this win," Skidmore said. "The team rallied around (him). Our team plays so much better when he is on the mound. He makes us go and he got us here so far. I saved him yesterday for today. I knew this game would be close, but I felt we could come out ahead today."

Heading to the fifth inning, Webster County held a 4-0 lead. By the time they came to bat in the bottom of the sixth, the lead was down to just one run.

The Highlanders responded with three big runs to give their ace some breathing room heading to the seventh inning.

"Eli (Gunter) pitched a great game today and he gave us a chance to win," Greater Beckley head coach Blain Smith said. That last inning we kind of self destructed with a couple of bad throws. We haven't played a clean game in this regional yet. I give them credit, they are playing clean crisp baseball and we are not."

Gunter came on after the 3-0 deficit in the first inning, getting Greater Beckley out of a bases loaded and one out jam.

Webster County also had some timely hitting and played some stellar defense to earn the win.

"We just didn't stay back and drive the ball today. He threw strikes and they made plays behind him. That is there guy and that is their formula to win. I give Webster a lot of credit for that. They were ready to rock," Smith said. "We squared up a lot of balls today and they just found their gloves. Tomorrow they might find the holes and that is the way we look at it. We have to be ready to go tomorrow."