MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown fought back from a five-run deficit in the seventh inning and three-run hole in the eighth to claim an improbable 13-12 victory over Robert C. Byrd on Tuesday in a contest that featured a little bit of everything at Mylan Park.
Outside of the final score, the Mohigans (11-2) never led.
“As a manager, this certainly is one of the wilder games I’ve ever been a part of,” Mohigans’ coach Pat Sherald said. “We’re fortunate to have a win. I just told the guys we stayed in the ball game. We got down early, but continued to fight back.”
Trailing by five to start the home half of the seventh, Morgantown got a leadoff Domenic Colasante, which combined with three base-on-balls and a sacrifice fly, brought the Mohigans to within 9-6.
Down to its last strike, MHS tied the game at 9 when Zach Brennan belted a three-run home run to center field, sending the game to extras.
“He’s been hitting balls hard and really had nothing to show for it,” Sherald said. “He’s had quality at bats for us so he really deserved to come through big, especially on senior night.”
Despite making two outs to start the eighth, one of which resulted in the ejection of a player, the Eagles (11-3) strung together a pair of singles and regained the lead when starting pitcher Nick George crushed a three-run home run to center.
Trailing 12-9, the Mohigans had three straight batters hit by a pitch to start their half of the eighth, forcing the Eagles to bring Brody Byrd to the mound.
But that didn’t much to change the Eagles’ fortunes and Ty Galusky and Colasante scored on wild pitches, before RCB recorded its first out. Quincy Thornton was hit by a pitch to bring Caleb Nutter across and tie it at 12, before Brennan drew a bases loaded walk that enabled Jacob Kennell to score the winning run.
“I’m very proud of them for staying in the game mentally, because it did get a little crazy,” Sherald said.
RCB quickly built a 3-0 lead in the first inning on the strength of George’s RBI double and a two-run double from Xavier Lopez.
In the second, Nathaniel Junkins’ solo home run and Grant Lowther’s RBI double upped the advantage to 5-0, before Galusky crossed the plate on a wild pitch for the Mohigans’ first run.
But the Eagles added four more runs in the third to take a 9-1 lead, with half of the damage coming on Junkins’ two-run double. Lopez and Junkins scored the other runs in the inning.
“If you would’ve told us coming into the game we’d be up 9-1 after three innings, I would’ve called you a liar quite frankly,” Eagles’ assistant coach Hunter Sowders said. “We have a good ball club and we thought it was going to be a close game. It turned out to be a close game. We swing the bat well and have to find enough pitching to get us through.”
Colasante scored Morgantown’s second run in the fourth on a two-out balk, which led to RCB manager Tanner Hill being ejected moments later.
“At that point, it was 9-2 so we just really needed to keep the focus there and unfortunately didn’t,” Sowders said.
Ethan Smith’s RBI single in the fifth and Thornton’s sacrifice fly in the sixth produced the Mohigans’ third and fourth runs.
RCB outhit Morgantown 16-7, but the Eagles issued 10 base-on-balls and drew one.
Ryan Fluharty picked up the win in 1/3 of an inning of relief work, while Byrd took the loss. Ten pitchers were used between the two teams.
“There were a ton of learning moments that we can focus on,” Sherald said, “and move forward as a team.”