Epling not happy heading into long road trip

Jul. 20—The West Virginia Miners are about to start a stretch of seven road games over six days, and manager Tim Epling isn't happy about it.

After a rapid succession of players either injured or calling it a summer, the Miners are down to a roster of 11. Roster depletion is nothing new at this point in the season for most summer college wood bat leagues, but a week-long road trip with barely enough players to field a full team presents a unique challenge.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Epling, who has managed the team in all but one season since it debuted in the Prospect League in 2010.

Epling intimated that the Miners feel pressured to play the games so other teams do not lose money. He pointed out that the Miners lost two gate proceeds with the postponements of Sunday and Monday games against the Champion City Kings after Covid concerns. Those games will likely be made up next Tuesday and Wednesday as doubleheaders, which count as only one gate.

The only other option would seem to be to forfeit since the upcoming games cannot be made up with less than a month to go in the regular season.

"Covid does what it does, we've got (a) limited number of players and really I hate putting kids in this position, but it is what it is," Epling said. "We have to do what our superiors say, regardless if it's in the best interest of the team or not. That's the way it is. Anybody else would not be put in this situation under these circumstances, but because of revenue — I mean, we lose two gates, and that's OK, but when you put beer money over top of kids' health, that's when I draw the line. That's my personal feelings about it and they can do whatever, but that's what it comes down to.

"Safety of the kids sometimes is secondary. That's my thing about it. I'm No. 1 about the kids' health and (all) that. But teams are giving us players or sending us players so we can play the games so there's no revenue lost. That's the way it is. That's the truth. I can say that without any reservation.

"You gotta do what you gotta do to make sure you make the money. That's what it boils down to. That's my opinion, now. I could be wrong, but that's what (my opinion) is."

Responding to an email seeking comment, Prospect League Commissioner Dennis Bastien wrote: "West Virginia notified the league office of issues with their roster. Teams within the league are doing everything they can to help the Miners with this situation."

Epling said he was told that other teams will be loaning the Miners some of their players so they can withstand the road trip, but had few details on how that will work.

"That's going to be TBA (to be announced)," said Epling, who added that the Miners will be able to add their own players once they return home next week. "We're going to go up there, we've got to make sure we play the game. That's the priority. I'm just being truthful. That's the priority. We've got to play the game. You don't play the game, people lose money. When people lose money, there's consequences to it in today's world."

Of the 11 players making the trip, only three are pitchers — right-handers Charlie Joyce, Nathan Riddle and Brett Whiteman. Also, Zach Doss is the team's only catcher after Jake Killingsworth and Stephen Karis were both hurt last week.

Joyce turned in a gutsy performance Saturday in a series-clinching win over Chillicothe. After the Paints took a 6-0 lead in the first off Miners starter Caleb White, Joyce took over in the second and held them to one run and three hits over five innings. That gave the Miners enough time to get back in it, and they scored six runs in the third and seven more in the seventh for a 13-8 win.

Eddie Leon came in from right field to toss three innings, giving up one run on two hits to get the win.

It's that kind of determination that Epling will lean on in the season's final two and a half weeks.

"We'll get through it. The kids that are here, that have sustained, they've been gutting it out on the field, as you've seen, in our games," Epling said. "They've been playing their hearts out, they really have. We're proud of that and them guys not letting negative circumstances dictate (their play). A lot of kids, it gets tough, it gets tight, they want to go home. OK, fine. But these kids that we have now, they want to play and they play hard, and I commend them for it."

The trip starts Wednesday with a game at Champion City starting at 6:35 p.m. Then it's off to Lafayette for a doubleheader against the Aviators on Thursday (5 p.m.). The Miners will actually be the home team for the first game, a makeup of the July 2 game that was rained out at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley.

They will then cross into the Central time zone for a two-game series against the Normal CornBelters Friday and Saturday before returning to Lafayette Sunday and Champion City Monday to close out the trip.

Fatigue is sure to set in, and the challenge of managing a barely-there pitching staff on a pitch count will be an arduous task.

"We're going to do what we've got to do. We're not going to be insubordinate to nobody," Epling said. "We're going to go up there and we're going to do the best we can with what we have and what is given to us. We're going to be as positive as we can. The kids are OK, we're OK. We'll let the cards fall where they may."

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