CUMBERLAND — A shutdown performance from Nick Falla out of the pen and a clutch homer by Konner Pittman set the stage for an Allegany College walk-off.
The Trojans, playing for their lives in a single-elimination playoff game, found themselves in a 4-0 hole early and they trailed until Pittman knotted things up with a two-run blast off the scoreboard in the eighth.
The thriller seemed destined for extras when Brandon Diaz-Valentin grounded a ball to third base with two outs in the ninth, but Montgomery’s third baseman threw it high up the first-base line, Gavin Fowler scampered home and the celebration began.
Behind 5 2/3 shutout, no-hit innings from Falla in relief and some good fortune down the stretch, fourth-seeded Allegany survived and advanced, defeating fifth-seeded Montgomery, 5-4, on Tuesday at Steve Bazarnic Field to advance in the Region 20 Division 2 West Division tournament.
“We never said die,” Pittman said. “We just have to keep fighting. With a guy like Nick on the mound, you don’t have to score a lot to win, and we scored just enough today.”
The Trojans (33-23), who have their most wins in 14 years, advance to play top-seeded Frederick on Friday at 3 p.m. at Frederick Community College. The Cougars are 45-9 and ranked 12th nationally.
Third-seeded Hagerstown (40-16) defeated sixth-seeded Allegheny County, 8-5, in the other play-in game Tuesday. It’ll square off with second-seeded Garrett College (36-17) on Friday at noon.
Allegany College started its No. 2 arm Tyler Serb, hoping that Montgomery’s lack of familiarity with the right-hander would come into play and allow the Trojans to start its ace Falla on Friday.
However, early miscues in left field and in the infield afforded the Raptors a 4-0 lead in the fourth on three unearned runs.
With no tomorrow with a loss, the Trojans turned to Falla with one out in the fourth, and the right-hander steadied the ship, retiring eight straight hitters.
Just one baseball left the infield over Falla’s 5 2/3 frames, a routine flyout to right, and just two runners reached base — one via walk and another on an error.
Falla pounded Mongtomery with front-door sliders early in counts, and he set them down with sliders that disappeared over the outer half, a strategy that led to 10 strikeouts.
“The mentality never changes. Up 50, down 50, still going out there doing my thing,” Falla said. “Knew I just had to get outs. Find a way to get outs early, get in the dugout as quick as possible and let the bats get hot.”
With one side of the game taken care of, Allegany finally got to freshman right-hander Hudson House in the bottom of the fourth.
Four straight base hits, including an RBI double by Dylan Adams and a run-scoring liner to left off the bat of Manuel Cartagena, cut the deficit to 4-2.
But House kept Allegany off-balance with a 12-6 curveball, putting up three scoreless innings in response until one fatal mistake in the eighth.
“It seemed like we couldn’t get a break early, and towards the end we started getting some here and there,” Allegany College manager Mason Heyne said. “They have a really good pitcher. … We were fortunate to get to him, it just took a little longer than I wanted.”
After a walk to Carson Bradley (Mountain Ridge grad), House hung a 1-0 pitch to Pittman in the middle of the zone, and the sophomore put it over the left-field fence to draw the game level at 4-4.
“He started me off earlier in the game with sliders, and he left that one hanging a little bit,” Pittman said. “I was really just trying to put the bat on the ball, not do too much. Got some backspin, got up in the wind a little bit and it got out. I’m just glad it did.”
A double play ended the rally, but Falla came right back and struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth, letting out a shout after the final K.
Joel Wise, who went 2 for 4, reached on an error by the third baseman to lead off the bottom of the inning. Fowler pinch ran, and Cartagena bunted him into scoring position to set up the winning sequence two batters later.
House was dealt the loss despite throwing 8 1/3 strong innings in which he allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with seven strikeouts to four walks.
Hayden Hair doubled and drove in two runs for Montgomery, and Joe Drengwitz had two hits and scored twice.
The Trojans now advance to the double-elimination West Division playoffs, where they face a tall task against Frederick, the best Region 20 has to offer.
Falla, who entered the week third nationally in earned-run average, expended 80 pitches in relief and will likely not be available until Saturday.
“Usually I have a good amount of time to let my body recover,” Falla said. “Now I guess it’s just trying to speed up the process as quick as possible. Trying to get as much sleep as I can in, blood flow, all that stuff.
“Hopefully my body can recover in time. I think it will. I think when you have a mentality, it doesn’t matter if you’re sore or not, you just get the job done.”
With new life, Allegany hopes the thrilling triumph Tuesday provides the club with momentum.
“We’ve been playing well lately, so hopefully we can keep that going,” Heyne said.