MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Frankfort scheduled a blockbuster Opening Day, and Morgantown held up its end of the bargain to produce a barn burner.
The Falcons erased a three-run deficit with a five-spot in the sixth inning, but Morgantown didn’t go away, scoring twice in the seventh to force extras. Jackson Brodeson tied it up with an RBI single with his team down to its final strike.
West Virginia signee Weston Mazey walked it off an inning later, lifting Morgantown to a 7-6, extra-inning victory over No. 1 Frankfort on Wednesday at Mylan Park’s Dale Miller Field.
“We’ve got to play better defense. That’s my biggest takeaway from the game,” Frankfort head coach Matt Miller said. “We gave up two unearned we shouldn’t have given up, and that’s uncharacteristic.
“But it’s the first game. Last year we lost an eight-inning game to Martinsburg in Game 1, and the season ended up pretty good. Maybe we can do the same thing.”
The matchup pegged two state tournament participants from last spring against one another.
Frankfort (0-1) capped a 23-9 campaign with an 8-0 rout of Independence in the Class AA state championship game. The title was the Falcons’ first since 1988.
Morgantown (1-0), meanwhile, fell in the state semifinals in Class AAA, eliminating Bridgeport in regionals along the way, to finish with a 29-9 mark.
The Mohigans took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning, as RHP Vinnie Aloi, a WVU Potomac State commit, held the Falcons to one unearned run on one hit through five frames.
Frankfort’s bats came alive the third time through the lineup to forge ahead, stringing together six hits to plate five runs and take a 6-4 edge in the sixth.
Jesus Perdew recorded the go-ahead knock facing a 1-2 count with two outs, shooting a two-RBI single to left field to break a tie. Perdew also had an RBI groundout in the second inning for the Falcons’ first run.
“With two strikes and two outs, Jesus just came through,” Miller said. “He did a really nice job. He fought that at-bat. Lefty-lefty, fouled off a couple outside pitches.”
Uriah Cutter drove in a pair with a single earlier in the frame, and Jacob Nething lined a single for another RBI.
Aloi, who belted a two-run homer in the second inning, pulled Morgantown within a run with a two-out, RBI single in the seventh.
After a walk, Brodeson forced extras with a run-scoring hit facing a 2-2 count.
An inning-ending double play erased a potential Frankfort rally in the top of the eighth, setting the stage for Mazey to plate the winning run, which originally reached on a leadoff walk.
“Two leadoff walks today, they both scored, and those come back to haunt you,” Miller said. “We preach strike one, getting ahead of hitters, but it happens.”
Lanson Orndorf had a pair of hits for Frankfort, Cutter drove in two, Blake Jacobs doubled and Jaxon Hare scored twice.
Aloi went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored, and Mazey was 2 for 4 and scored twice.
Left-hander Judd Messerly earned the win, allowing two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and no walks in three innings of relief.
Frankfort started its All-State ace Orndorf, who allowed two runs on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in three innings of work.
The right-hander, like the rest of the Falcons’ arms, was on a 60-pitch limit.
He was relieved by Rhett Sensabaugh, who allowed two runs on four hits with four strikeouts to two walks in four innings pitched.
LHP Lane Lease took the loss for the Falcons.
Frankfort committed three errors, the most significant a two-out throwing error in the third inning that plated a pair of unearned Morgantown runs.
Morgantown made one error, netting Frankfort an unearned run in the second.
Mohigans right fielder Ryan Nipper had two assists, gunning down runners at the plate in the sixth and seventh innings.
Up next, Frankfort hosts Washington on Saturday at noon, followed by a difficult stretch against Martinsburg and East Hardy to begin next week.
“The reason we schedule these teams is to prepare for the end of the season,” Miller said. “The only way to get better is to challenge your players.”