WEIRTON, W.Va. — Weir ace Aleks Zanieski was on top of his game on the mound, and his batterymate delivered two big hits to break the game open.

Zanieski struck out seven batters through three innings, including five straight at one point, and Liam Williamson two doubles and five RBI leading the Weir baseball team to a 12-1 victory against Oak Glen via mercy rule in four-and-a-half innings Tuesday evening up at the Weir High Baseball Field.

“Everybody hit the ball,” Weir (5-7) head coach Dave Cowden said. “Zanieski was out for a couple of weeks. He was injured. I wasn’t sure how many pitches he was going to throw. I didn’t know what to expect. He brought his A-game. He threw 70 pitches. he shut them down.

“That was the same pitcher we scored one run against. It was a different day. I don’t know if it was home or away. I don’t know the mindset or the psyche. We just hit the ball much better today.”

The Golden Bears helped the Red Riders cause as they committed four errors in the first three innings, and the team ended the game with five.

“We did not play well,” Oak Glen (4-9) head coach Eric Hayden said.

Zanieski picked up the win for Weir as he struck out nine while walking two in four innings of work. Zanieski did not allow a run while only giving up one hit.

“Zanieski is my horse,” Cowden said. “He and Mat Geer are 1 and 1A. Williamson and Braswell are up there as well, but Zanieski and Geer are our two main guys.”

Nick DeMatteis pitched the fourth for the hosts. He did not strikeout or walk a batter.

Noah Willey took the loss for the Golden Bears. Willey struck out one and walked one in three innings of work. Kaden Dragisch pitched the fourth for the visitors. He did not record a strikeout while walking three.

The Red-and-Black outhit the boys in blue, 11-1, and the home team tallied three extra-base hits in the win.

Offensively for Weir, Teddy Glyptis collected a single, a double and an RBI, Jonathan Horstman contributed two singles and an RBI and Nico Glass, Zanieski and Geer all delivered a single and an RBI. Also, Braswell and DeMatteis each collected a single.

“We saw more pitches today,” Cowden said. “You could say we were patient. We barreled the ball up more. We barreled it up up-and-down our lineup. When you put the bat on the ball, you put pressure on the defense, and we put the bat on the ball today.”

Catcher Christian Chappell singled for the lone hit for the Golden Bears, while Willey delivered an RBI.

The victors recorded at least one run in all four innings in which they batted. The Red Riders recorded their first run in the first.

Glyptis singled to start the inning off, and the second baseman scored on a groundout by Zanieski to give Weir an early 1-0 lead. The Red Riders increased their lead to 2-0 in the second. Hortsman led off the inning with a single to center, he stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error to give his team a two-run advantage. Williamson reached first on the play.

Weir broke the game wide open in the third.

With one out, Braswell and DeMatteis delivered back-to-back base hits to start the inning before Braswell scored following a single by Glass and an error to extend the Red Riders’ advantage out to 3-0. Following a strikeout, DeMatteis scored on another error to make the score 4-0 before Williamson plated Glass and Kason Lash, who reached on an error, to make it a 6-0 ballgame. Then, Glyptis brought Williamson home with his double making it 7-0.

The Red Riders recorded five more runs in the fourth to go up by a dozen runs.

Zanieski singled to start the inning, and Braswell walked to put two runners on base. Zanieski, who moved up to second on an error and advanced to third on a passed ball, scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of DeMatteis to make the score 8-0. Glass followed with a walk, and Hortsman singled scoring DeMatteis making the score 9-0. Then, Williamson followed with a two-run double, and after he stole third, he came in to score on a single by Geer to make it 12-0.

The Golden Bears plated their lone run in the fifth. Sam Jenkins was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and he advanced to third on an error before scoring on another error off the bat of Willey. Oak Glen had a runner on base, but three straight-outs ended the inning and the game.

“We don’t flush anything,” Hayden said. “We have to learn from this. We did not compete. We did not play well.”

Weir is scheduled to play Wheeling Central at 5 p.m. today at home.

“We’ll see what happens,” Cowden said. “Wheeling Central is a good team. You have to bring your A-game against them. We are going to do our best to bring our A-game.”

Oak Glen is slated to play Union Local at 5 p.m. Friday at home.

OG: 000 01 – 1 1 5

WE:115 5X – 12 11 2

OAK GLEN (4-9): Willey LP (3IP, 1K, 1BB), Dragisch (1IP, 0K, 3BB) and Chappell. Chappell S; Willey RBI.

WEIR (5-7): Zanieski WP (4IP, 9K, 2BB), DiMatteis (1IP, 0K, 0BB) and Williamson. Glyptis S, D, RBI; Geer S, RBI; Zanieski S, RBI; Braswell S; DiMatteis S; Glass S, RBI; Hortsman 2S, RBI; Williamson 2D, 5RBI.