SHENANDOAH JUNCTION — Jefferson High School has progressed through the rain-owned postseason to where it faced a best-of-three series against Hedgesville High School to see which team could win the Class AAA, Region 2 championship and earn a berth in the four-team state tournament field.

Jefferson’s wet road thus far has seen it eliminate Martinsburg High School with a pair of wins that were spaced far apart, only because of the uncooperative weather.

After the Bulldogs defeated Spring Mills High School in the first game of the Sectional, they faced Jefferson, which earned a bye through the first round.

Jett Gross mastered the Martinsburg lineup by pitching a one-hitter and striking out 11, as the Cougars were able to make the most of their few hits and scoring opportunities. Serf Guerra went 2-for-2 with a double and scored a run in the tense 3-0 Cougar win. Gross improved his overall record to 8-0 and kept his impressive ERA below a run a game, as Jefferson then awaited an elimination game between Spring Mills and Martinsburg.

When the Bulldogs once again defeated the Cardinals, the Cougars went against Martinsburg a second time in the postseason.

In the second tournament meeting between the ancient rivals, Jefferson had more offense and enough effective pitching from reliever Alex Danner to post an 8-4 win and send Martinsburg home with two losses.

Sam Hefner was on base three times, scored twice and stole a base. Liam Healey went 2-for-3, stole three bases and scored a run. Guerra had two RBIs and doubled. Danner was credited with the win in relief of starter Andrew Engle.

Earlier this week the Cougars faced Hedgesville, which had survived in the tournament by eliminating Musselman and Washington, in a best 2-of-3 series where the winner would move on to the state tournament in Charleston.

In the college ranks, West Virginia had been eliminated in its bid to win the Big 12 Tournament. The Mountaineers, now 41-13 overall, had been eliminated by Arizona, but had accomplished enough overall to get an at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA Tournament that climaxes with the College World Series in Omaha.

West Virginia was selected to play in the Clemson-hosted Regional along with Kentucky and South Carolina-Upstate (the winner of the Big South Conference tournament). Top-seeded Clemson will face USC-Upstate (36-23 overall and 19-5 in the Big South) while the second-seeded Mountaineers first play Kentucky, a Southeastern Conference team with a 29-24 overall record that included a 13-17 conference mark. The Wildcats were beaten, 4-1, by Oklahoma in their lone game in the SEC Tournament. Clemson (44-16 overall) reached the finals of the ACC Tournament where it fell,14-4, to tournament winner North Carolina.

Despite a troublesome end to the regular season and a loss in the conference tournament, WVU had a 41-13 overall record and posted a school record number of wins.

Should the magic return to WVU’s lineup and it somehow could win the double-elimination Clemson Regional, it would advance to Super Regional play. There are 15 other four-team Regionals scattered all over the country. Eight Super Regional winners advance to the College World Series to be played as always in Omaha.