Wheeling Park edges Big Red in extra innings, 2-1 – heraldstaronline.com

Apr 1, 2025
Big Red’s Royal Mayo awaits a pitch during an at-bat against Wheeling Park on Monday. – Nick Henthorn

WHEELING — Baseball legend Satchel Paige once said “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”
When the Steubenville Big Red and Wheeling Park Patriots met Monday on Patriot Field, included among the players’ ranks was a handful of first-year players looking to prove they can make an impact for their teams this season despite their inexperience.
In the early-goings of either team’s seasons, Steubenville is trotting out two freshmen — Royal Mayo and AJ Borsch — while Wheeling Park freshman Jaxson Updegraff is seeing plenty of time as well.
Mayo led off for Steubenville on Monday and played shortstop, while Borsch was Big Red’s designated hitter batting in the heart of the order in the five-hole.
There was not a lot of offense to go around in Monday’s game, a 2-1 Wheeling Park victory where the two teams combined for four hits across eight innings.
Big Red’s AJ Borsch readies to swing against Wheeling Park on Monday. – Nick Henthorn
Updegraff factored into Monday’s outcome heavily, picking up the victory on the mound by striking out the side in the top of the eighth, before an unpredictable two-out play delivered Park the victory in the bottom half.
Updegraff hit second for Park on Monday, and the youngster has already recorded multi-hit games and scoreless frames on the mound for the Patriots (8-1).
“He’s done a lot for us,” Wheeling Park head coach Steve Myers said. “He’s a good teammate, he prepares every day. He’s been on the mound, he’s been at first base, he’s been in our lineup in the two-hole. Fits in well with the team, he just needs to keep on working. He’s done a fantastic job so far.”
Updegraff also plays football, and was the goalie for the Park hockey team that made it all the way to the national semifinals this past weekend. The Patriots think he has a bright future on the diamond to boot.
“Excellent stick, a very smart baseball player, very coachable, always has his focus on the game,” Myers described.
ABRUPT ENDING
The foreshadowed finish of Monday’s matchup came by way of a dropped third strike with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. After Steubenville pitcher Hayden Hicks threw what could have been an inning-ending swinging strikeout, the ball got by his catcher, and Park’s Coldin Burkhart scored standing up from third base. Burkhart had pinch-ran for Rocco Digiandomenico after a single to right field, had stolen second, and moved to third on a ground ball. The improbable play jolted Monday’s game from a march into the ninth inning to a swift conclusion.
“Sometimes you just have to find a way,” Myers said. “We stayed in the ball game the whole time, two really good pitchers, a pitchers’ duel. Then our guy did really well coming out of the bullpen, put us in position. We ran the bases well at the end of the game and things worked out.”
Both teams scored one run in the first — Mayo for Steubenville and Kolten Whitmire for Park — before defense took over. Hicks finished with eight strikeouts, going seven and two-third innings before being saddled with the hard-luck loss, and Whitmire twirled seven innings of impressive pitching with 11 strikeouts of his own. Updegraff’s three punchouts gave them 14 as a team.
“We’re close. We’re not there yet but we’re close,” Big Red head coach Fred Heatherington said of his squad. “We had two great pitching performances in our first two games. We’ve got to keep fighting, our kids fought.”
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