HANOVER — Fort Cumberland Post 13 let La Plata hang around, and it came back to bite them.
Kohen Madden retired the first 11 La Plata batters and took a shutout into the seventh, but Fort Cumberland’s offense managed just one run against Landon Newsome to keep it a 1-0 game.
An error and a wild pitch allowed La Plata to tie the game and force extras, and a four-run ninth was the difference in Fort Cumberland’s 6-4, nine-inning defeat to open the Maryland American Legion state tournament on Friday at Joe Cannon Stadium.
“We definitely gave the game away,” Fort Cumberland manager Brian McAlpine said. “We played a good enough 6 1/3 innings to win the game. We had a very bad error on a line drive bunt back to (the pitcher).
“They bunted efficiently. We couldn’t get a bunt down. Small ball did not go in our favor today.”
Fort Cumberland (11-6), trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, would have walked it off if not for a base-running mistake — or an umpire misinterpretation of the ruleset.
A new national ruleset entitles each team to a ghost runner — a free runner at second base to begin each at-bat — starting in the 10th inning. However, the crew in Friday’s game believed ghost runner usage was to be used in all extra innings, beginning in the eighth.
That marked the day’s second rule misinterpretation, as the umpires didn’t allow either team to use courtesy runners — a mistake they acknowledged in the sixth inning.
Still, Fort Cumberland would have won in the eighth if its ghost runner at second had not been picked off. One pitch later, Myles Bascelli launched a home run over the left-field fence.
“The umpires didn’t know the rules at the beginning of the game. I argued it to no avail,” McAlpine said, indicating he may protest the game.
Aidan Espejo gave La Plata (12-3) the lead for good with a safety squeeze in the ninth, and after a two-out RBI single by Zavier Bowman and an RBI single by Kaine Simon — which got under the Post 13 right fielder’s glove to let another run score — Fort Cumberland trailed 6-2.
An RBI single by Liam Buck and a wild pitch pulled Fort Cumberland within two and brought the tying run to the plate, but left hander Dillon Gordon entered and struck out the final two batters for the save.
The poor finish spoiled a gem by Madden, who took a no-decision allowing an unearned run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and two walks.
Madden nearly walked the tightrope with Fort Cumberland leading 1-0 in the top of the seventh.
La Plata put two on with nobody out, and Madden snared a line-drive bunt to the pitchers’ mound. An errant throw to first, however, prevented a double play and moved the runners up.
Still, Madden induced a pop-up to get Fort Cumberland an out away before a wild pitch leveled the score.
Fort Cumberland’s lone run in regulation scored in the fourth inning on a ground ball by Buck that resulted in a double play.
Dane Van Slyke and Bryson Krumpach had two base hits each for Fort Cumberland, which was out-hit 10-7.
Newsome was the winning arm, using his fastball control and off-speed deliveries to hold Fort Cumberland to just two runs on six hits in eight innings with six strikeouts and four walks.
Bowman went 3 for 5 and drove in two runs, and Simon singled twice.
While the start was less than ideal for Fort Cumberland, it’s still alive and plays an elimination game against Cecil County Post 15 on Saturday at 10 a.m.
“We’ve got to grind now,” McAlpine said. “We’re down two pitchers going into (Saturday), but I still have four or five pitchers, so I’m not much worried about that.
“If we come and play baseball and take care of the fundamental stuff, we’ll be fine. We’ll make a little bit of a run here and see what we can do.”