CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Brandon Corley’s two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning allowed East Fairmont to edge Sissonville, 1-0, Saturday at Frank Loria Memorial Field.
The contest, held as part of the annual McDonald’s Classic, turned out to be a classic pitchers’ duel between the Bees’ Garrett Wilkerson and the Indians’ Cody Fisher.
Neither factored into the decision, but both were stellar on the mound. Wilkerson tossed seven scoreless frames and allowed four hits, striking out four and issuing just one walk. Fisher went 7 2/3 innings and struck out nine, holding the Bees scoreless on four hits and a pair of walks.
“Both pitchers located the ball and kept hitters off-balance,” East Fairmont coach Joe Price said. “Hats off to their guy. It’s a shame somebody had to come out on the short end of the stick right there, but that’s the game.”
In the bottom of the ninth, East Fairmont (10-4-1) got a leadoff single from Broderick Rohrbaugh. Rohrbaugh was lifted for William Sarsfield, who moved up to second on Ethan Harvey’s sacrifice bunt.
Dom Postlewait followed with a walk, before Chance Rundle bounced into a fielder’s choice that resulted in a force out at third. Peyton Sarsfield sent another ground ball to third in the following at bat that looked as though it would send the game to a 10th inning, but instead resulted in an error to load the bases.
That sent leadoff hitter Brandon Corley to the plate and he delivered a single to left-center that scored Postlewait for the game’s only run.
“You know their guy has to be around the plate right there because he didn’t want to walk the running in,” Price said. “Brandon is a veteran guy and he took what he could get right there and just kind of dinked one and that was the difference in the game.”
An error and two walks allowed the Bees to load the bases in the first, but Fisher struck out consecutive batters to escape unscathed.
A one-out double in the second by Will Hackney presented one of the best scoring opportunities for Class AA No. 8 Sissonville (10-4), but Wilkerson retired Austin Fisher with two outs to strand a pair.
Neither team threatened again until the sixth when Wilkerson induced a fly out to left off the bat of Hunter Montgomery to end the inning with Isaiah Ramsey on third.
“We have to take our opportunities when they’re given to us and we didn’t today,” Sissonville coach Chad Carpenter said. “We had a bad approach at the plate most of the day and were trying to pull everything insted of going with the pitch, thinking opposite and then reading the fastball inside.
“Their pitcher pitched a great game and our starting pitcher did as well. At the end of the day, we didn’t make enough plays hitting to win the game.”
Cody Fisher struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extras, and when the Indians came to bat in the eighth, Cole Peschl replaced Wilkerson on the mound.
Peschl retired Sissonville in order in the eighth, and Levi Tinsley replaced Fisher as the Indians’ pitcher with two outs in the bottom of the inning.
Tinsley took the loss after allowing one run on three hits in one inning of work.
Pesch pitched two scoreless frames to pick up the win.
“We lift Garrett and go to Cole Peschl and we didn’t miss a beat,” Price said.
The Bees outhit the Indians, 7-5, while neither team had a player record more than one hit.