FROSTBURG — Mountain Ridge out-hit Keyser 10-4 and capitalized on scoring opportunities, leading to a 7-3 win on Monday.
“We’re playing baseball, we’re actually starting to look like a ball club,” Mountain Ridge manager Justin Cook said. “We’re starting to do the small things right and we’re starting to improve as a team.”
The Miners (4-7) also drew eight walks while the Golden Tornado (4-11) combined for nine earned baserunners off five walks and four hits.
“We didn’t hit, we had some good hits but not enough,” Keyser manager Scott Rohrbaugh said. “Without hitting, getting runners on, we didn’t put pressure on their defense. We played pretty good defense, pitching today was average. If we hit the ball and get baserunners on, it’s a different game.”
Brady Moran was charged with two earned runs on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts across six innings for Mountain Ridge.
“He had a good curveball,” Cook said of Moran. “Kinda struggled a little bit with his location with his fastball, relied on off-speed stuff. He kept the batters off balance and pitched a good six innings.”
Each team’s first run came on a passed ball before a bases-loaded walk from Lane Frost put the Miners ahead 2-1 after two.
Cam Larkin evened the score with a single in the third for Keyser before Mountain Ridge took the lead for good the following half-inning.
Singles from Bryson Krumpach and Daniel Swindle in the bottom of the third gave the Miners a 4-2 lead.
A sacrifice fly from Tyler Cook in the fourth extended Mountain Ridge’s lead before Cam Larkin’s RBI single in the top of the fifth cut the Tornado deficit to 5-3.
“They were aggressive at the plate,” coach Cook said of the offense. “You can’t go up there watching strikes go by. One through nine, everybody was swinging the bat.”
Eli Sibley and Krumpach earned free passes with the bases loaded in the fifth completed the scoring for the Miners.
Sibley, Moran and Lane Frost each recorded two hits for Mountain Ridge.
The Tornado’s three pitchers combined for 10 hits, six earned runs and eight walks with three strikeouts.
“We weren’t at our best, they weren’t as sharp as as they’ve been in other games,” Rohrbaugh said of the pitching. “The biggest thing is we gotta get our bats going.”
Keyser left two runners on across three separate innings.
“Their pitcher (Moran) kept us off balance,” Rohrbaugh said. “He had a slider and some other stuff, he kept us off balance today, credit to him.”
The Miners travel to Southern (5-5) on Tuesday before hosting Berkeley Springs on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
The Golden Tornado head to No. 2 Northern (10-1) on Tuesday before hosting No. 4 Frankfort (10-6) on Thursday at 6 p.m.
“We’ve been in some tight games this season against some other good teams,” Rohrbaugh said. “We just gotta go out and compete. Keep competing and see what happens.”