MCHENRY — Ryan Bird pitched a gem, and Reece Tasker clubbed a pair of triples to lead Southern to a 5-1 win over Fort Hill at Garrett College on Saturday.
The Rams (6-2, 4-1 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) broke a 1-all tie with a four-run fifth inning. Ben Lohr hit a go-ahead two-run single, and Tasker and Brayden Upole plated two more with back-to-back hits.
Bird picked up the victory allowing one run on three hits with nine strikeouts and two walks in six innings pitched. Cade Leader tossed a scoreless seventh.
Jared Haskiell went 2 for 3 to join Tasker with a multi-hit day. Fort Hill had four base hits, all singles.
Steven Spencer went the distance for the Sentinels on the mound, allowing five runs on eight hits in six innings pitched. He struck out three and walked one.
Fort Hill (5-6) hosts Petersburg (2-9) on Monday at 4:30 p.m. Southern is at No. 4 East Hardy (5-4) on Monday at 6 p.m.
No. 5 Frankfort 17 Grafton 10
GRAFTON, W.Va. — Frankfort blew a 10-1 edge but rebounded scoring seven unanswered runs in a win over Grafton on Saturday.
The Falcons (6-4) plated four runs in the sixth inning and three in the seventh to take a slugfest, which saw a combined 27 hits — 17 by Frankfort.
Jacob Nething hit a solo home run in the second inning.
Blake Jacobs hit a three-RBI triple later in the inning and was thrown out at the plate trying to leg out an inside-the-park grand slam. He made sure of it two innings later, sending a pitch over the left-center-field fence for a solo shot.
Lanson Ordorf went 3 for 5 with a triple, Jacobs was 3 for 4 with four RBIs, Nething was 3 for 4 with three ribbies and four runs scored, Jesus Perdew singled three times, Jaxon Hare singled twice, Uriah Cutter singled and doubled and Cam Lynch doubled.
Orndorf was the winning pitcher, throwing two scoreless innings after Grafton tied the score at 10.
Frankfort hosts No. 2 Allegany (7-2) on Monday at 6 p.m.
No. 3 Northern 7 Meyersdale 2
ACCIDENT — Robert Deatelhouser pitched a solid game, and Northern scored five straight runs to pull away from Meyersdale on Saturday.
The Huskies (4-3) scored two first-inning runs before Meyersdale leveled the score at 2 in the top of the third. Northern responded with a three-run bottom half, and it tacked on insurance runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull away.
That was more than enough for the left-hander Deatelhauser, who held Meyersdale on two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and a walk in six innings of work.
Cole Folk threw a scoreless seventh inning in relief, striking out the side.
The leading hitters for Northern were Liam Stewart with a pair of singles and an RBI, Cole Folk with two singles, Nick Riley with an RBI double and Jacob Chambers with an RBI single.
For Meyersdale, Spencer Whitfield hit an RBI triple, and Ryan Sechler notched two singles and an RBI.
Northern hosts Mountain Ridge (0-7) on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
East Hardy drops thrillers
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — No. 4 East Hardy blew two saves on Saturday to fall to Lincoln and Williamstown, both by 8-7 scores.
The games were part of the McDonald’s Classic in Bridgeport.
The Cougars’ defeat to Williamstown, a perennial power in West Virginia’s Class A ranked No. 2 in the state, was a heartbreaker after East Hardy took a 7-3 lead into the final inning.
Williamstown plated five runs in the top of the seventh to lead 8-7, scoring the go-ahead tally on a wild pitch with two outs.
Shayne Sisler pitched well for the Cougars but was dealt the losses after he had to come out of the game with one out in the seventh. Sisler finished with a line of eight runs (four earned) on eight hits with four Ks and four walks.
East Hardy did well to get to West Virginia signee Maxwell Molessa before he was chased in the fifth inning. The Cougars plated six runs on nine hits against the Williamstown starter.
Garrett VanMeter and Logan Sager led the Cougars’ offense with three hits each.
Wyatt Powell doubled twice for Williamstown and Molessa also had a two-bagger.
In the Cougars’ first game of the day, Lincoln tied the game at 5 in the seventh with some small ball to force extra innings.
After East Hardy took a 7-5 edge with a pair of scores in the top half of the eighth, Lincoln scored three runs to walk it off, winning it on a walk-off wild pitch.
VanMeter and Levi Price doubled for the Cougars. Maddox Perine doubled for Lincoln.
East Hardy (5-4) hosts Southern (6-2) on Monday at 6 p.m.
Moorefield walked off twice
The Cougars’ Hardy County rival suffered a similar fate Saturday, losing to Doddridge County, 5-4, and South Harrison, 7-6 — both on walk-offs.
Back-to-back two-out errors plated the tying and winning runs in the seventh against Doddridge.
Consecutive two-out walks with the bases loaded doomed the Yellow Jackets against South Harrison.
Alex Miller, Oliver Crites and Tyson Arnold versus against South Harrison.
Moorefield (5-7) hosts Frankfort (6-4) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.