POTOMAC PARK — Garrett County swung the big bats, but Fort Cumberland found timely hits and made plays in the field to move to 2-0 in the district.
Fort Cumberland took advantage of eight Garrett errors, seven of which came in a three-inning span beginning in the fourth, to plate nine runs — seven of which were unearned.
Liam Buck gave Post 13 the lead for good with a sac fly in the sixth, and Fort Cumberland tacked on four more runs in the frame and held off a late rally to defeat Garrett County Post 71/208/214, 9-6, on Thursday at Memorial Field.
“Overall, I thought we played pretty well, pretty sound defense,” Fort Cumberland manager Brian McAlpine said. “First four innings, we weren’t fundamentally sound. They were missing a lot of signs on the base paths, just kind of going through the motions.
“We had a little chat there in the fourth inning and we got moving on the base paths.”
Fort Cumberland improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain District. Garrett fell to 0-2 in the district.
Coye Resh led the Post 13 lineup going 2 for 4 with three RBIs, Myles Bascelli was 2 for 4 with two runs and two stolen bases, Cole Ricker singled twice, and Colt Resh and Dane Van Slyke scored twice each.
Both starting pitchers, Cumberland’s Colt Resh and Garrett’s Landon Yoder, started with three scoreless innings.
Yoder’s defense let him down in the fourth and fifth, as five errors plated four unearned runs.
Landyn Ansel’s two-out RBI single in the fourth followed a run that scored after an error on a Coye Resh ground ball for a 2-0 Post 13 lead.
Garrett responded with four runs in the next half-inning, with Reece Tasker lifting a moonshot over the left-field fence for a go-ahead three-run homer and a 4-2 lead. Ryan Bird had a sac fly one batter prior.
Yoder should’ve had a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, but Madden and Resh leveled the tally with RBIs.
Bascelli followed Buck’s go-ahead sac fly in the sixth with a run-scoring single, and Resh struck a liner to left for two RBIs — the bases cleared when the ball snuck under the left fielder’s glove to make it 9-4.
Garrett got two back on an opposite-field double by Elliott Myers-Shirer, the second two-bagger of the inning after Bird’s blast, but Madden induced a groundout to his shortstop Ricker for the final out.
“We hit the ball just as hard or as good as they did,” Garrett manager Phil Carr said, “but we didn’t get as many guys put on free as we put guys on free today. For five, six innings there, it was a very good game.”
Madden picked up the win, allowing two runs on two hits in two innings of relief, striking out four and walking one.
Colt Resh had a no-decision giving up four runs on seven hits in five innings with three strikeouts and three walks.
Yoder was dealt a no-decision, surrendering four unearned runs on six hits in five frames of work. Tasker took the loss in relief.
Tasker was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs, and Myers-Shirer went 2 for 3 with two ribbies.
Fort Cumberland and Garrett County next take the field in district play at Garrett College on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Post 13 followed up their consecutive Maryland state championships with a lackluster 2025 summer. Their strong start to this season has made that a distant memory.
“It was apparent from the first practice we had that they were different, attitude-wise,” McAlpine said. “They kind of accepted it’s not rec league. It’s a little bit more than that. Plus, they’re all bigger, stronger. Our pitchers are throwing a lot harder. The base hits, they’re not bloops.”