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CHILLICOTHE — Near perfection.
Those two words all but describe Wheelersburg pitcher Caden Conn’s day on the mound on Thursday afternoon.
A two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth inning was the only base runner Wellston managed all night long as Conn tossed a five-inning no-hitter.
The senior was backed up by his team’s offense, which put 13 runs on the board — sending Wellston home and Wheelersburg to a district final for the third time in the last four years.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
“I’m super proud. It’s kind of odd when you have a week in advance to prepare for a team,” Pirates head coach Derek Moore said. “When your team gets 15 hits, good things are going to happen. And Caden was awesome, he was throwing strikes and playing good defense. That’s just Pirate baseball, and we’re definitely pleased to get this win.”
After Conn struck out two of the first three Wellson batters, the Pirates drew first blood in the bottom of the first.
With one out — and the bases juiced — Kolton Salyers reached base on a fielding error, allowing a run to score for an early 1-0 lead. That’d be all ‘Burg could get out of the opportunity, however, as Wellston pitcher Logan Martin worked out of the jam and retired the next two batters.
But after failing to capitalize in the first, Wheelersburg made up for it in the following frame.
Conn sat Wellston down in order in the top of the second, setting his team up to go back to work with its bats. From there, Creed Warren started off the bottom half with a walk before Rowdy Watkins bunted him into scoring position.
After that is when the dam would burst for Wellston.
Cameron Conn got things going with an RBI single, pushing the lead to 2-0. To follow, Connor Estep, Jake Darling, and Kolton Salyers all came up with consecutive RBI singles of their own. Later, Caden Conn singled to drive in one more, capping off a five-spot and giving ‘Burg a 6-0 lead into the third.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
After Caden Conn sat down the Rockets in order again, the Pirates hit the ground running offensively. Estep and Salyers both singled for the second time of the day, bringing home a combined three runs to extend Wheelersburg’s lead to 9-0.
“Over the past week, our mindset has been to hit the ball hard on the ground, and if they make plays, they make plays. But make them make plays,” Moore said. “That’s our expectation for the rest of the tournament. Hit the ball hard on the ground, and make teams make plays. That was Pirate baseball. That’s what we’ve been wanting all year.”
Conn continued to deal on the mound in the following frame.
Although he surrendered his first base runner of the campaign, a two-out walk, he still added two strikeouts to the teally and held Wellston hitless through four.
An RBI sacrifice fly from Landon Hutchinson put the Pirates in run-rule territory before Estep ripped a two-run double into left field to give his team some insurance. Salyers then logged his third RBI single of the day to finish off the scoring for ‘Burg, completing the tally at 13-0.
With three outs remaining, Caden Conn only had one thing in mind, and that was to finish the job.
One last time, Conn went back to work in the fifth, looking to not only shut the door on Wellston, but keep the zero in the hit column intact.
He did just that, sitting the side down in order to put an exclamation point on a 13-0 win — one that sends the Pirates to a district final for a second consecutive year.
“[Conn] has been our bulldog. We put him in during big games, and he’s done nothing but come up and perform,” Moore said. “He’s wanted to be in this moment ever since he was a little kid. He’s a special one, and hopefully we get a few more starts with him this year. You can’t say anything else about him besides that he’s a hard worker, he’s dedicated, and he’s a great teammate.”
“It’s about trusting the guys behind you and not having to stress pitches,” Conn added. “Whenever I got up in the count, I knew that if [Wellston] put it in play that my guys were going to make a play behind me.”
While Conn sat down nine batters on strikes in five innings of no-hit, shutout baseball, he also finished 1-for-3 on the day with an RBI. The hitting brigade for the Pirates was led by Salyers, who finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs. Estep also finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs of his own.
Wheelersburg advances to Friday night’s Division III district final.
The Pirates will match up with Minford — who defeated Westfall by a 12-2 final to advance — at 5 p.m., back at VA Memorial Stadium. A win on Friday would crown Wheelersburg a district champion for the third time in the last four years.
The Pirates also won both meetings against Minford in the regular season.
“We’ve got nine seniors on our team who have been in this situation before,” Moore said. “We know Minford very well because we’ve faced them twice this year. Our guys are going to have to be ready to go.”
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