Flawless defense, McGraw's complete game leads SW to 2-1 win over 'Burg

WHEELERSBURG — Coaches will typically speak often about doing the so-called little things.

For those who desire to watch SportsCenter-esque highlights, the little things may not be flashy. They may even be, to some, boring or monotonous.

However, competitors love to win — and winning is never, ever boring or monotonous. So in good programs, the little things are usually harped on, and executed, to a high degree.

The South Webster Jeeps' and Wheelersburg Pirates' baseball programs have not been regular contenders not only in the SOC's highest division in baseball, but contenders in making deep postseason runs because both programs pride themselves on playing individuals that buy into executing the little things and playing with a team-first concept.

Both programs' templates were certainly on display Friday evening, as few inches were given and fewer hits allowed in another SOC III classic Friday evening in Wheelersburg.

When the dust settled, however, South Webster made all the key plays that it needed to.

Getting a 50-pitch complete game gem from pitching talent Jacob McGraw, Ryan McClintic's group got massive defensive plays from Beneiah Andrews, Brayden Barnard and Easton Large while Andrews, Brayden Barnard, Hunter Barnard and Brycin McClintic were big in run-producing situations, helping South Webster claim a 2-1 triumph and the season sweep of Wheelersburg in a contest that came down to the game's final pitch.

For McClintic and the 2025 SOC III defending champion Jeeps, the contest could represent a breakthrough and a corner turned. South Webster allowed just four Wheelersburg hits and didn't commit a single error in 20 defensive chances while making one top-notch defensive play after another through excellent situational awareness and high IQ play.

"That's Jeep baseball," McClintic said. "Get them on, get them over, get them in. We try to play a fundamental, efficient type of baseball, and you've got to buy into that. We don't have a lot of big boppers out there in our lineup, so just throwing strikes, playing defense, having a steady heartbeat when the game was tied, and bending, but not breaking — that's who we are and who we've been the last couple of years. We've been in a little bit of a funk starting out this year, for our standards, but (Friday) was a step in the right direction."

Wheelersburg themselves was consistent defensively, allowing just seven Pirate hits behind a strong start from Andrew Tabor as well as a good relief performance from Cameron Conn, and committed just one error in 19 defensive chances itself.

But despite getting the leadoff batter on base from the third through fifth frames of action, the Pirates were held to one run as the Jeeps navigated their way out of trouble on each occasion.

"You've got to give (Jacob) McGraw a lot of credit," Wheelersburg head coach Derek Moore said. "He kept us off-balance. When you only have four hits, you can't really establish a great rhythm on the basepaths. One thing I believe we've found with our crew is we can kind of make stuff happen when we get on base. When you don't get many baserunners or you get baserunners with two outs, you can't really get much going. He did a great job keeping us off-balance."

Getting an early opening to pounce, South Webster capitalized immediately.

Leadoff batter Hunter Barnard, who has enjoyed a great three-sport career at South Webster, began the game with a base hit to center field on the contest's second pitch.

The senior shortstop then stole second, advanced to third base on a groundout by South Webster's Beneiah Andrews, and scored on Brycin McClintic's sacrifice fly RBI to left, putting the Jeeps ahead by a 1-0 tally.

South Webster then threatened to score again in the top half of the third frame, as Beau Stephens' poke that ultimately rolled to left field was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Brayden Barnard that moved Stephens to second, a wild pitch, and a walk by Hunter Barnard that put runners at the corners with only one out in the inning.

But Wheelersburg snuffed out an attempted suicide squeeze — and Pirate pitcher Andrew Tabor caught Stephens up in a 1-2-5-2-5 putout. Tabor then got a pop out two batters later, keeping the South Webster lead to a 1-0 count.

However, South Webster countered with its own great defensive work.

Following a leadoff single by Wheelersburg's Owen Wilburn, a sacrifice bunt moved Wilburn into scoring position at second base with one out in the bottom of the third frame.

But after a flyout, South Webster's defense came up big once again.

After taking a first-pitch strike, Bransyn Russell launched a ball that appeared that it would drop in play in right field and score Wilburn.

But getting a great break on the ball, Andrews failed to give up on the play. No. 15 reached out and dove to make an excellent snag to his right, ending Wheelersburg's early threat and keeping the South Webster lead at a 1-0 count after three innings of work.

Not phased, the Pirates came back with a bang. Brady Doss, who led off the fourth inning, wasted no time getting things cracking as the senior catcher cranked the first pitch he saw from McGraw in the bottom of the fourth inning straight out of the ballpark on a towering blast to straightaway center field. The blast evened the score at one apiece as the game headed to the fifth frame of play.

"I thought Andrew Tabor threw well enough to win," Moore said. "Cameron Conn came in and closed the door. Brady Doss had two big hits tonight, and had that big home run (in the fourth inning) that shifted momentum back to our side."

"If you're going to give up one, give up a solo shot, right?" McClintic said. "We know what type of hitter (Brady) Doss is. If you leave something over the plate like that and he puts a good swing on it, he can do that. We've seen it at the VA a couple of weeks ago. Hat's off to them and they got some really good players."

But McGraw, along with freshman catcher Pierce Kreischer, kept on plugging away. McGraw needed just 25 pitches to dispose of the Wheelersburg lineup the rest of the way, including only five after Doss' solo blast in the fourth to keep the game tied.

"Jacob was awesome," McClintic said. "Throwing a complete game with that pitch count is just unheard of. He just went right at them all night long — didn't waste pitches, just attacked. We had Pierce Kreischer catching for us (on Friday)," McClintic said. "That's the first varsity game he's caught. He hadn't caught any innings all year. He works in practice at all different positions everyday. That's a gamer right there. Just an unbelievable job by Jacob and Pierce."

In the top of the fifth frame of play, South Webster willed its way back in front.

With one out in the fifth inning, Brayden Barnard shot a double to left and never hesitated in turning the corner, sliding in safely at second base as a result.

His hustle then resulted in a clutch run, as on a six-pitch at-bat where Andrews fouled off two pitches, the right fielder went with a breaking ball pitch perfectly and drove the pitch directly to center field, scoring Barnard to put the Jeeps back up by a run.

"Those are two guys that have had their struggles at the plate this year, but we still have all the confidence in the world in them because of their work," McClintic said. "Hitting's always behind pitching early in the year. That's the mark of a good team. We feel like we have a really complete lineup, one-through-nine, no matter who we put out there out of our 15 guys, and when some guys are off that day or are victims of atom balls or things like that, someone else is going to pick them up. That's just the mark of a good baseball team, and we have a good team."

"You got to give them a bunch of credit, because that's what veteran-type teams do," Moore said of South Webster. "They didn't panic. They come in, score and go up 2-1. We didn't get to play with the lead at all. We got a little taste of a tie there for a minute, but when they are kind of the enforcers, they can play with a lead."

Wheelersburg attempted to answer in the fifth inning, and for the third consecutive frame, the Pirates got its leadoff batter on base as Drew Holland singled to right field to begin the bottom half of the fifth. However, Brayden Barnard made a quick throw in from left field, holding Holland to a long single instead.

Courtesy runner Hayden Henderson then advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a groundout with leadoff hitter Cameron Conn coming up to bat. But Conn, who launched a well-hit ball that looked destined for an RBI, had his potential base knock snagged by Easton Large, who was in perfect position to make the catch at first base.

"They're just great defensive plays," McClintic said. "Having that play in right field by Benny (Beneiah Andrews) and keeping the guy on first base there on the throw by Brayden, those are things that we hadn't been doing early in the year. We were, what I refer to as, bleeding bases to people, whether it was a passed ball or a wild pitch, not backing up, not in the right position defensively, or taking a bad route to the ball. We were terrific in all of those facets on Friday. Making those plays are so crucial in this league when you're playing good teams every night. You just can't bleed bases. You just can't give up bases to people."

"We hit some balls hard," Moore said. "They just made all the plays they needed to. And you've got to give (Jacob) McGraw a bunch of credit. We didn't strike out much at all, but he challenged our hitters, and when you've got a defense that's playing behind you like that in these big games, you'll win big games, and that's what they did (on Friday)."

That continued into the seventh inning.

With one gone and McGraw and South Webster just two outs away from potential victory, Wheelersburg's Drake Bundy hit a ball directly to Hunter Barnard at shortstop. Barnard had a bit of a bobble and, in making sure that the throw reached first base in time, fired the ball toward the dirt. But Large picked his own teammate up, literally and figuratively, by picking the ball cleanly at first base to help the Jeeps complete its terrific performance defensively.

"On that play with one out, Hunter had a little bit of a bobble there," McClintic said. "Easton picks the ball over there as cool and calm as can be for a freshman. Couldn't be prouder of our guys and happy for our guys. They've been working hard every day and just trying to get things going in the right direction. We hope that (Friday) is a step that way."

"Their defense was spectacular," Moore said of South Webster's performance. "They made every play that they needed to. It was a good high school baseball game — two really good high school baseball teams that I hope and expect to make deep tournament runs. Our conference is top-notch. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night, and that's what South Webster showed (on Friday). They made the plays when they needed to."

With the win, South Webster improved to 6-4 overall and 3-2 in SOC III competition. In addition to its two victories over Wheelersburg, the Jeeps still have an unfinished game against Valley in its opening rotation of games, which South Webster trails just 7-5 in, and lost just 5-4 to Minford in nine innings in the first meeting between the two ballclubs in South Webster.

That, alone, shows that the 2025 SOC III Champs aren't willing to go down quietly.

"Anybody can beat anybody any night," McClintic said. "You're never surprised by a score that you see. Everybody's good. It's baseball. Whoever plays clean that day and does the little things is going to come out on top. The SOC III is such a talented league and an exciting league to play in. I wish it wasn't over so soon. We're already in the second rotation of these games, and we just played these guys (last Monday). I wish we could play 20 of these instead of 10, because it's just good baseball."

Like South Webster, Wheelersburg, too, still has a shot at the title. The Pirates (5-6, 2-3 SOC III) get their own shot at SOC III co-leaders Valley on Monday and Minford on Wednesday and can pull themselves right back into the mix with a pair of early week victories.

"As much as we're upset because we suffered a loss after coming in riding high on a three-game winning streak where we have played good baseball, it doesn't get any easier," Moore said. "We've got to go on the road to Valley on Monday, and then we host Minford at Minford on Wednesday, and those are the top two teams in the standings. We can get right back in the thick of things if we want, but we've got to take care of business, have a good day of practice, and come ready to go on Monday."