CUMBERLAND — Fort Cumberland tried to claw back in the game, but Garrett County’s middle infield didn’t let them.
Garrett shortstop Brayden Upole thwarted a sure single with a diving stop and a throw from his knees to kill a rally in the sixth inning. In the seventh, Upole linked up with Cole Folk for a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
An opportunistic fourth inning following some bad Fort Cumberland fortune gave Garrett County the offense it needed, as Post 71/208/214 rode a strong start from Jared Haskiell to a 4-2 win over Post 13 in Monday’s American Legion Mountain District opener.
“It’s always nice to get the one-game lead,” Garrett manager Phil Carr said. “The first game out, and you’ve been off a little while. You’re not sure how you’re going to play and shake the rust, but I thought we shook it pretty good.”
Fort Cumberland has won the last three district titles, and the last four Mountain District champions have advanced to the final day of the Maryland state tournament.
Post 13 captured the last two state crowns, but Garrett County threw the first punch this summer.
The game changed with two outs in the fourth inning when Fort Cumberland starting pitcher Myles Bascelli took a hard ground ball by Liam Stewart off his leg.
The right-hander stayed in the game but was affected. After Ben Lohr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Haskiell legged out an infield single and Luke Ross drew a free pass with the bags full, Garrett pushing its lead to 3-1.
“I thought Myles was dealing really well,” Fort Cumberland manager Brian McAlpine said. “It was unfortunate he took that shot. He wanted to go, he wanted to try, but he didn’t have it. He was hurting pretty good. Hopefully he’ll be back for Thursday.”
Haskiell, who allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits in five innings with five strikeouts to three walks, left the game with a 4-2 lead, and Landon Yoder slammed the door to record a six-out save.
Garrett County committed just one error behind them, which netted Fort Cumberland a run in the fifth inning after a mishandled Cole Ricker grounder.
“Jared threw a pretty nice game for being off three weeks,” Carr said. “Landon came in and did his thing in relief.”
Ricker gave Post 13 a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI groundout to plate Colt Resh.
Resh reached on a leadoff walk, and he moved from first to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Rice when Garrett County didn’t cover third.
Garrett also scored off an error. A two-out ground ball in the fifth inning by Stewart was mishandled by the second baseman, allowing a run to score.
Jacob Chambers and Folk had two hits each for Garrett County, and Chambers doubled. Caedon Wallace doubled for Post 13.
Garrett out-hit Fort Cumberland, 8-4.
“They struggled with the sticks,” McAlpine said. “I think we got behind in the count a lot. Haskiell threw well. Defense was stellar behind him.”
Bryson Krumpach pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings of middle relief for Fort Cumberland, and Carson Bender tossed two scoreless after him.
Fort Cumberland had an assistant coach ejected following the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
The district rivals are back in action on Thursday when Garrett County hosts Fort Cumberland at 6 p.m. at Garrett College.
“The last two years they’ve kind of had our number, so it gives us a little confidence that we can play with them and we can beat them,” Carr said.
“It should be a good series like that the whole time. I hope it is.”