Even though he was facing the No. 2 ranked team in Class AAA, St. Albans pitcher Andy Hapney remained calm under pressure.
Hapney used the cool demeanor to pitch a complete game, one-hit shutout for the Red Dragons as St. Albans handed visiting Cabell Midland a 2-0 defeat in a Mountain State Athletic Conference game at Loftis Field on Monday night.
“I don’t really get nervous when I pitch,” Hapney explained. “Even in a situation like this. I just try to stay calm and pitch out of it and do what I do. They’re a good team with a lot of good hitters. I just tried to stay optimistic and throw strikes.”
St. Albans improves to 5-5 while the Knights fall to 9-2. It was the second consecutive loss for Cabell Midland, who fell to Boyd County, Ky. on Saturday.
A win over a ranked opponent will pay big dividends for St. Albans, Hapney predicted.
“This could be a spark to turn around our season,” he said. “We’ve played a lot of close games. This win will boost our confidence a lot.”
St. Albans coach Rick Whitman agreed.
“We have the potential to keep getting better and better,” Whitman said. “When you get a good pitching performance like we did tonight, that really helps. I saw more energy in our team tonight. It’s a shot in the arm for us, confidence-wise. We know we can play with the better quality teams.”
Hapney was 0-2 heading into the contest with close losses to Winfield and Ripley behind him.
“Andy has pitched well all year,” Whitman said. “If we didn’t have confidence in him, we wouldn’t have sent him out there against a team like Cabell Midland. We thought that if he could throw his breaking ball over for strikes and we could make enough plays, it would work out for us.”
“Hapner pitched a good game,” said Cabell Midland pitching coach Jeff Wallace. “He hit his spots and threw the ball real well. He didn’t make many mistakes. You have to take your hat off to somebody that does that.”
“We just had one hit,” Cabell Midland assistant coach Jason Holmes added. “We have to put the ball in play. With one hit, you’re not going to win many games. We didn’t put any pressure on them.”
The Red Dragons have a young club, with only three starters with varsity experience and three freshmen in the lineup.
“It is fun when you see them learn and get better,” Whitman said. “But it can also be frustrating when you see them not doing things that you know they’re capable of doing. It’s just a learning process. “We’re inexperienced, so the more we play, the better we’ll get.”
The Knights had an opportunity to score in the fifth inning with a walk and an error putting a runner on third. But Hapney buckled down and struck out designated hitter Brandon Adkins for the third out looking, stranding two runners on base.
“He keeps an even keel,” Whitman said of Hapney. “He just threw strikes and tried to let his defense make plays. He had confidence in them to do that. He didn’t try to do too much.”
Corey Miller pitched five strong innings for the Knights, allowing just one hit while striking out eight batters.
Cabell Midland inserted Adkins as a reliever in the sixth. He issued a leadoff walk to Marcus Fox. Fox promptly stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Colin Southern stepped in and delivered a game-winning RBI single and later scored on a Shane Saunders sacrifice fly to give St. Albans a 2-0 lead.
Hapney, a junior, retired the Knights in order in the seventh to seal the win for St. Albans.
St. Albans travels to Nicholas County today while Cabell Midland plays host to Ripley.
Cabell Midland 000 000 0 – 0 1 1
St. Albans 000 002 x – 2 2 3
Miller, Adkins (6) and Ruley. Hapney and Southern.
Hitting: SA – Southern single RBI; Saunders sacrifice RBI.
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