Berkeley Springs cracks Class AA Top 10

The Berkeley Springs baseball team climbed to number 10 in the West Virginia Class AA rankings last week. This is quite an accomplishment for a team that had its first winning season in a long time a year ago. So far in 2007, the Indians have an impressive record of 9-5, despite going 2-2 a week ago.

The week started on Wednesday, April 18 with Berkeley Springs hosting Keyser in a double header. The Indians, who lost all three games to the Golden Tornado, got a measure of revenge winning the first game of the double header 4-1.

Michael Twigg had an excellent outing for the Indians, limiting the Golden Tornado offense to one run on four hits, striking out five and walking five, for his third win of the year. Twigg worked the first five innings before Nick Campanelli ptiched two strong innings for the save. Campanelli allowed no runs on one hit, striking out three, without walking a batter.

"Twigg gave us a quality start," said Berkeley Springs coach Trey Barcus. "He really battled and did a very good job. Then Nick (Campanelli) came in with a quality performance out of the bullpen and slammed the door shut."

Twigg got all of the help he would need in the opening inning, as the Indians scored twice in the bottom half of the inning for a 2-0 lead. Nathan Sirbaugh walked to lead off the inning and scored the first run of the game and Campanelli, who walked and stole both second and third, scored the second run.

Keyser cut the Indian lead in half with a single run in the third, but the Indians quickly answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the third for a 3-1 lead.

Berkeley Springs scored the insurance run when Jake Freels, who had doubled with one out, scored on a Jeremy Michael single.

Twigg and Campanelli did the rest to give the Indians their first win over Keyser in two years.

Keyser won the nightcap, 6-1, despite a pretty good pitching performance by Berkeley Springs starting pitcher Jacob Waugh. Waugh went the first 4.1 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on two hits. The hard throwing right hander struck out eight and walked five.

"He (Waugh) had Keyser overmatched," Barcus said. "Unfortunately he had some control problems and that was costly."

Campanelli pitched 1.2 innings allowing no runs on one hit, striking out one and walking one. Freels pitched the final inning allowing two runs, on two hits.

Freels had two hits and scored the lone Indian run. Joey Berens and Sirbaugh had the other two Berkeley Springs hits.

The Indians then played a double header marathon in Hedgesville on Thursday, April 19. Hedgesville won the first game 8-7 and Berkeley Springs the nightcap 15-12.

Sirbaugh was the hard luck loser in game one. The right handed senior worked the first 5.1 innings, giving up eight runs, five earned, on 11 hits. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.

"Sirbaugh threw well," said Barcus. "He got no help in the field as we committed four errors. The defense just could not make a play when they needed to. We did hit the ball much better and especially Jake (Freels) who was 2-2 with two home runs and three RBI."

Waugh worked the final .2 inning, allowing no runs on no hits. Waugh struck out one and did not issue a walk.

Freels gave the Indians a quick 2-0 lead with a two-run home run in the first, before Hedgesville scored one run in the bottom half of the inning and two in the third for a 3-2 lead.

Matt Griffith singled and scored on a RBI double by Sirbaugh in the fourth to cut the Hedgesville lead to 4-3. Sirbaugh then scored on a J.T. Thomas single to tie the game 4-4.

Berkeley Springs retook the lead 5-4, when Freels led off the fifth with his second home run of the game.

Hedgesville quickly tied the game with a single run in their half of the inning and then took an 8-5 lead with three runs in the sixth.

The Indians did not go down without a fight however, scoring twice in the seventh before Griffith struck out with a runner in scoring position to end the game. Jeremy Michael singled and moved to second when Waugh was hit by a pitch. Lucas Redick came in to run for Waugh and both he and Michael scored on a two-run double off the bat of Mark Carter.

In the nightcap, Hedgesville scored five runs in the bottom of the first for a 5-1 lead. But the lead didn't last long as the Indians erupted for 12 runs in the second inning for a 13-5 lead and then held on for a 15-12 victory.

The Indians won the game in the second inning, when they brought 16 batters to the plate, scoring 12 runs on nine hits. Griffith and Thomas had the big hits of the innings. Griffith delivered a pair of two-run singles and Thomas a base clearing triple.

Hedgesville fought back with three runs in the second and two in both the fourth and fifth innings to cut Berkeley Springs lead to 13-12. The Indians then scored two insurance runs in the top of the sixth on run-scoring singles by Campanelli and Michael. Twigg, Berkeley Springs' fifth pitcher of the game, pitched the seventh inning to get the save. Twigg was nearly perfect, striking out all three of the batters he faced.

The Indians out-hit Hedgesville 14-13. Thomas led the way with three hits, while Sirbaugh, Twigg, Griffith and Michael had two hits each. Berens, Carter and Campanelli rounded out the offense with one hit apiece.

Freels started and worked one inning, allowing five runs, four earned, on four hits. He struck out one and walked one. Campanelli worked three innings allowing five runs, four earned on five hits, walking two and striking out one. Sirbaugh worked the fifth inning allowing two runs on four hits, striking out two and walking none. Waugh pitched the sixth allowing no runs on no hits, striking our two, before Twigg came in and closed the door.

"This was a wild game to say the least," Barcus said. "We hit the ball well and scored 12 times in the second. Our bullpen was fairly effective, especially Waugh and Twigg. Actually Twigg was outstanding in this outing. Once more we made too many errors (four) and it nearly cost us the game."

Berkeley Springs has a tall order this week with games against Martinsburg, ranked fourth in Class AAA and Jefferson County currently ranked second in Class AAA on Monday, April 23 and Tuesday April 24, respectively.

Berkeley Springs will get a day off before hosting Petersburg in a double header on Thursday, April 26 and finish the week at St. Maria Goretti on Saturday.