WARNER ROBINS -- West Virginia was inconsistent in its first two games of the Little League Baseball Southeastern Regional tournament.
It all came together in the crucial third game.
David McQuain, Sam Swiger, Cam Stewart and Michael Gaskill came up with the pitching and six players got hits as West Virginia rolled to an 11-3 win Monday over Virginia.
The game was delayed an hour and 58 minutes because of a little rain and plenty of lightning. The stoppage came in the top of the sixth with two outs and a runner on for West Virginia, which had already scored four times in the inning.
The rest of the inning took 11 minutes, delayed only by a pitching change for West Virginia.
McQuain, Angelo Hall and Gaskill each had three hits for West Virginia, which moves on to a Wednesday semifinal with a 2-1 record in pool play.
Virginia fell to 1-2.
Greg Yearace drove in six runs for West Virginia, while Gaskill added three.
West Virginia’s pitching struck out only two and gave up five walks but surrendered only four hits. The offense popped Virginia’s staff for 13 hits.
“I thought we were getting better,” West Virginia manager Brent Hall said. “Our first game, we played really bad. We had one hit the entire game. Saturday, the bats came alive a little bit.
“And (Monday), we were hitting the ball really well. So, yeah, I think it’s been a cultivation of things leading up to this.”
West Virginia put three across in the first on four hits.
Gaskill had the big hit, his double scoring McQuain and Hall. Gaskill then came in on Yearace’s single to right. Virginia hardly blinked, answering with two runs in the bottom half on a hit batter, single by Brendan Grammes, fielder’s choice grounder from Patrick Francisco and two-run single from Max Kidd.
Francisco then tried to steal home but was nailed for the third out.
McQuain, the starting pitcher, came up with a two-out homer to give Fairmont a 4-2 lead.
Swiger came on to relieve McQuain with a 1-1 count on Jack Kidd and needed two pitches to finish the second inning.
West Virginia’s aggressiveness led to another run in the third. Stewart walked and stole second, taking third when the overthrow was bobbled in center. He then scored on Yearace’s grounder to second.
Meanwhile, Swiger kept Reston from getting much going.
“Sam threw really well,” Hall said. “We just told him to keep the ball down, let them hit into ground balls.”
West Virginia all but sealed it with another pair in the fifth on a single, error and fly ball. West Virginia kept the offensive pressure on in the sixth, Yearace’s three-run bomb to right ending all suspense, other than if the game would finish before rain started.
The game was stopped two batters later.
The only West Virginia pitcher ineligible for Wednesday is Jacob Bolander.
“We’ve got three kids that all throw about the same,” Hall said. “We really don’t have an ace. We’ve got four or five other kids that come in and give us and inning, and it works.”
