CUMBERLAND — No. 2 Allegany led 4-0 after three innings after holding No. 4 Northern to two base runners.
The Huskies (1-0, 1-0 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) rallied in the fourth inning to tie, taking the lead in the fifth and never looking back in a 14-8 victory on Saturday.
“It’s always nice to get off to a good start,” Northern head coach Phil Carr said. “Wins are what you’re looking for, that’s what we got. Was it a pretty game by either side? Not really. It was a long game, there were a couple mistakes and teams capitalized. Not an easy day to be a pitcher.”
In the top of the fourth, Northern loaded the bases on a Wally Brands’ single,
Caleb Hinebaugh walked and Cole Folk reached on a error by the shortstop.
After Brands scored on a wild pitch, Devin McKenzie stepped in and hit a line drive to right, scoring two runs on a double to cut the Huskies’ deficit to 4-3.
“It’s early, and you go up against a team like Northern early in the season, you have to make sure you do little things correctly,” Allegany head coach Jon Irons said. “There were a lot of little things that we did not do well today. A couple big things we did not do well today that we gotta clean up.”
In the following inning, Northern struck for seven runs.
Jacob Chambers tripled, Nick Riley and Luke Ross singled, Cole Folk drew a bases-loaded walk and another run scored off an error by the shortstop.
“A couple guys in the lineup really struggled last year,” Carr said. “They’ve worked hard to try and get better. Riley had a big hit today, he struggled last year. He had a good two scrimmages, that’s why he was in the lineup. We had a couple big, huge hits to put the stamp on a couple of those innings.”
Now trailing 11-4, the Campers (1-1, 0-1 WestMAC) loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth.
Myles Bascelli and Jackson Resh drew walks and Kohen Madden singled.
Landyn Ansel reached on an error at third base as a run scored, then two bases-loaded walks from Jacob Wakefield and Cade Bauer added runs.
Allegany cut the deficit to 11-7, but the Huskies added insurance runs in the sixth off a sacrifice fly and a Ross walk.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ansel singled to center for an RBI before Northern answered with a run off a passed ball in the seventh.
“The errors in the field killed us,” Irons said. “We struggled behind the plate, I feel we gotta clean up a lot of stuff with our catcher. The passed balls have really hurt us in situations where teams like Northern like to move runners up. They didn’t have to bunt as much as they typically do because they were able to move guys up on passed balls.”
The Campers scored the game’s first two runs in the first inning.
Madden and Resh picked up RBIs on groundouts, then in the third inning, Williams tripled and Madden singled for RBIs and a 4-0 Alco lead.
“We’ve been seeing the ball well,” Irons said. “I feel like we’ve swung it pretty well. It’s just one of those deals where you compound your mistakes in the middle of the game, it’ll snowball on you.”
Robert Deatelhauser earned the win in 4 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, four earned runs and six walks with three strikeouts.
“Robert gutted it out for us,” Carr said. “We wanted to get him out a little sooner than we did. We were just trying to make it through with games coming.”
The Huskies had eight players record hits led by Folk’s two.
McKenzie drove in three runs while Ross and Riley added a pair.
Allegany’s four pitchers combined to allow nine hits, six earned runs and 12 walks with 11 strikeouts.
Madden led the Campers with three hits and two RBIs while Williams hit a double and a triple.
Both teams take the field on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
Alco hosts Keyser (2-1) while Northern heads to the Hot Stove Complex to play Fort Hill (2-0, 2-0 WestMAC).
“It’s been tough for us at this field,” Carr said about playing at Allegany. “We’ve got one win here since they opened the field. That was the big one, the region championship we upset them two years ago. I remember a couple years ago it was 21-0, last year it was 2-1. We haven’t hit the ball at all on this field, and today maybe that changes it a little bit.”