MCHENRY — With its season on the line and its back against the wall twice, Garrett County lived to see another day.
Fort Cumberland was three outs from clinching the Mountain District championship in the seventh and eighth innings, but Garrett rallied both times and walked off Post 13, 5-4 in eight innings, on a base hit by Jake Chambers on Thursday at Garrett College.
Fort Cumberland (7-3, 5-2 district) carried a 4-3 edge into the bottom of the eighth inning after a wild pitch plated Myles Bascelli in the top half.
Following a Garrett strikeout that brought Cumberland within two outs of the title, Devin McKenzie singled up the middle, and an error allowed the tying runner McKenzie to advance to third base.
Cole Parks leveled the tally with an RBI double a batter later, and, after a pitching change, Chambers followed with the winning hit to center field to score Parks.
Garrett used some two-out magic to force extra innings. Trailing 3-2, Garrett’s Elliott Myers-Shirer provided the leveling base hit in the seventh.
The comeback allows Garrett County Post 71/208/214 (6-9) to see another day. Garrett, 2-5 in the first-to-six victory Mountain District series, needs three straight wins over Fort Cumberland to force a one-game playoff.
Fort Cumberland (7-3, 5-2) is still a win away from claiming its first district title since 2024, a season that ended with Post 13’s second consecutive Maryland state championship and Mid-Atlantic Regional appearance.
Colt Resh produced the first runs of the game during a three-run Fort Cumberland third inning, driving in Peyton Blocher and Jake Rice with a triple to right field.
Kohen Madden pushed across Resh in one pitch later, sending a fly ball to right for a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 Post 13.
Bascelli got the ball for Fort Cumberland to start and kept Garrett off the scoreboard for four straight innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Bascelli was pulled after starting the frame with a walk and a single, and both runners came around to score.
Hunter Livengood erased the shutout with an RBI groundout, and Reece Tasker came home on a wild pitch to pull Garrett within 3-2.
That margin remained until Garrett’s late-game heroics.
Bascelli netted a no-decision after the right-handed Allegany alum allowed two runs on five hits in four innings, fanning seven and walking six.
His counterpart Parks also had a no-decision. He surrendered three runs on four hits in four innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Liam Stewart kept Garrett in the game, pitching three shutout innings of two-hit ball in relief before Post 13 got traffic on the bases in the eighth.
Chambers, who recorded the final two outs of the eighth, was credited with the win.
Garrett held a 10-6 edge in hits, and McKenzie led the way going 3 for 5. Myers-Shirer hit safely twice.
Colt and Coye Resh both had two-hit games for Fort Cumberland.
Fort Cumberland is back in action in the Potomac State tournament this weekend, facing Charleston Post 65 on Friday at 4 p.m. at Frankfort High School.
Garrett County hosts a doubleheader with Bridgeport on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Fort Cumberland will have another shot at clinching the district when it hosts a doubleheader against Garrett County on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Memorial Field.