Photo by Nick Henthorn Martins Ferry’s Kolson Ludolph connects with a pitch during a regular season game against Bellaire on April 7. The Purple Riders meet the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights on Thursday on Mazeroski Field for the OVAC 3A championship.

CADIZ — The Wheeling Central Maroon Knights’ and Martins Ferry Purple Riders’ first meeting this season will be for all the marbles.

The top-seeded Knights and third-seeded Riders will meet in Thursday’s OVAC 3A championship game on Harrison Central High School’s Mazeroski Field under the lights, set for a 7:30 p.m. start. Wheeling Central, last year’s champions in 3A, won their semifinal against Monroe Central in decisive fashion, while Martins Ferry upset Linsly to reach the title game.

“Being the No. 1 seed is nice, because it means you have a good record to this point in the season, but when it comes to the championship none of that means anything,” Wheeling Central head coach Todd Cover said. “It’s two teams out there battling and whoever makes the most plays is going to win. We hope to be on the winning side tomorrow.”

“Before the tournament, we had to beat Barnesville to get in,” Martins Ferry Anthony Reasbeck explained. “We told the kids, we’ve got to win 21 innings to win the championship. We’ve got it down to seven now. I guess that makes us feel a helluva lot better than 21. We got in, we got to the finals, now we’ve got to win seven more innings.”

While either team took different paths to the final, with the game on the horizon, their game plans for Wednesday are aligned.

“We’re going to have to limit Central’s offense,” Reasbeck said. “Their pitching staff is lights out, we might have a tough time scoring, so we need to keep them at bay as much as possible. We have to throw strikes and play tremendous defense behind [Hunter] Shutler. If we can do that and make it a 2-1 game, a 3-2 game, we’ve got a puncher’s chance. If they score six or seven runs we’ll have a problem.”

“Our pitchers are going to have to get ahead in counts– we can’t always throw fastballs in fastball counts because they’re too good of a hitting team for that,” Cover said. “For us, it’s always throw strikes, make the routine plays and get timely hits. I know they’re going to throw their best at us and it’s probably going to be a low-scoring game, so whoever gets a couple runners on and gets the timely hits, they’re going to end up ahead.”

Wheeling Central brings a lineup with a ton of depth into the championship game, with 14 returning lettermen from last year’s OVAC championship team. They are led by their senior quartet of Gary Hatfield, Seth Cover, Braxton Billick, and Luke Tiu. Steven Brodegard has been a great arm for Central– the junior threw a five-inning perfect game in the semis against Monroe Central, striking out 13– and Central has plenty of arms behind him too, like Seth Cover and Brayden Cover .

“What can’t I say about them? They’re the best around, I think,” Reasbeck said. “We played them in the semis last year and the game lasted five innings, we got drilled. We had five freshmen playing in that game. They’re about as good as you get as a baseball team and we know that coming in. But if we can get seven innings to six innings, six innings to five, five to four– you just never know.”

The Purple Riders’ freshman-filled team last year has turned into a sophomore-laden squad this year, with second-year players like Hunter Shutler, Christian Shutler and Eli Smith all tallying RBI in Ferry’s semifinal against Linsly, Smith belting a two-run home run. Senior Ayden Ludolph, one of three seniors on the team along with first baseman Alex Reese and second baseman Hunter Theil, struck out five in that game and had an RBI at the plate as well.

“They’re talented,” Cover said of Martins Ferry. “I’ve coached some of the kids on that team so I know they’re talented, they’ve been playing well. They’ve got good pitching and they can hit the ball. I expect a tight game tomorrow and hopefully we can make one more play than they do.”

Martins Ferry won the OVAC championship in 2022, while Wheeling Central is seeking to defend the title.

“As a program– and I don’t mean to sound overconfident– but I expect us to be there every year,” Cover said. “It’s an expectation of ours, we want to play for championships, that’s where we want to get our program to. There’s two big ones, that’s OVAC’s and the state championship. I think we’re talented enough to take a shot at both of them and it starts tomorrow against a really talented Martins Ferry team.”

“They had to grow up a little faster than usual,” Reasbeck said of his team. “We’re starting five sophomores and a freshman. There was a plan for these guys, but we’re a little ahead of schedule. But, now we’re here, so we might as well win.”