MORGANTOWN—It was only fitting that on senior day, a group of seniors led the University High School baseball team to an 11-2 win over visiting Lincoln on Wednesday.

Senior pitcher Jacob Kennison got the start on the mound for the Hawks (7-10) and 3.1 innings of two-hit baseball before turning the ball over to fellow seniors Lukas Neer and Daniel Grabo.

“Jacob was going to be on a pitch count today,” UHS head coach Travis Renner said. “He’s going to pitch on Saturday for us, so we didn’t want him going an extended period of time without an outing. We needed to get him some work in, so he knew he was going to be on a pitch count today.

University staked Kennison to an early 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning, when Max Cash scored on a perfect suicide-squeeze bunt off the bat of Curtis Quarrick and then senior Brance McCune scored on a wild pitch.

However, the Hawks’ offense went quiet for the next three innings.

The Cougars were able to tie the game, 2-2, in the fifth inning as Colton Edwards hit an RBI triple for the big blow in the frame.

That’s when Grabo took over for UHS.

He tossed the final 2.2 innings on the mound to pick up the victory and went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and two RBI.

“I wanted to show out tonight for my dad,” Grabo said. “He told me to go put on a show in my last year, so I wanted to do that for him. He’s been everything for me and my role model. So, he tells me what to do and I do it.”

Grabo helped the Hawks take the lead back in the bottom of the fifth as he hit an RBI single that scored Cash and Quarrick added and RBI sacrifice fly that scored McCune.

University put the game away in the sixth as it sent 12 hitters to the plate. Grabo and fellow senior Tommy Montague each had an RBI double in the frame while senior outfielder Brock Shuba added a two-run double as well.

“We put up a two spot in the first inning, and then after that, it looked like we got a little bit complacent,” Renner said. “We were still having good at bats. We were getting guys on base, but then we were trying to do way too much at the plate sometimes, and then we were popping up when all we needed was a ground ball, and we were striking out when we just got to put a ball in play.”

Renner said he was happy with how each of the nine seniors were able to contribute to the victory and he said he has enjoyed coaching this group.

“They’re a good group of kids, a good group of young men,” Renner said of his senior class. “They’re very responsible. They clean the dugout just as much as the young guys do. They’re helping carry buckets around just as much as the young guys. Like I said, they’re just good, mature young men, and it shows on how their energy feeds into the rest of the team. I can’t ask for a better group of guys.”

UHS returns to action on Friday and Saturday this week at the Bridgeport tournament.