The Cougars roared ahead 5-1 with two home runs before Pendleton County stormed the bases in a 6-5 victory rally during the opening round of the Class A Region II Section 2 Baseball tournament in Franklin on Tuesday.
East Hardy’s Clay Skovron hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Logan Whetzel punched a three-run shot in the second inning.
“Two home runs at the beginning of the game is great, but we just didn’t follow through with it,” East Hardy Coach Eric Heflin remarked.
“We just let them in the game, late in the game and that’s what happens. That’s baseball and anything can happen.”
Whetzel connected on the first pitch from Pendleton County’s Timothy Thorne, but the ball found its way into Jared Lambert’s glove in left field for the initial out of the opening frame.
Alex Miller singled into left field before taking a flight home courtesy of a center field bleachers blast by Clay Skovron putting the Cougars up 2-nil.
A check swing by Brett Tharp was determined to have crossed over the threshold for a strikeout, then Adam Baker drew a walk before Christian Dove was thrown out on a dropped third strike by Pendleton County catcher Kole Puffenberger to Thomas Davis to retire the side.
East Hardy pitcher Brett Tharp hurled the ball towards the plate and Addison Rexrode started the game at the plate just like the game in Baker earlier this year smashing a solo home run over the center field fence as the Wildcats cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
Tharp shrugged off the home run by tossing two consecutive strikeouts to Pendleton County’s Grant Evick and Timothy Thorne, but Kole Puffenberger answered with a single before the inning was closed on a strikeout to Thomas Davis.
East Hardy’s Andrew Tharp started the second inning with a single into left field, then Noah Miller slapped a sharp grounder of the foot of Thorne on the mound and the ball up and landed for a single as Rexrode fielded it without a play to make.
Thorne walked off the stinger, then Tharp stole third base to put runners on the corners before Seth Smith struck out.
Whetzel launched the ball over the left field fence for a three-run home run as Lambert tried to corral it when crashing into the fence and the ball deflected away to provide the Cougars with the 5-1 lead.
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Pendleton County brought in Kyle Kimble to the mound and Alex Miller sliced a single down the left field line.
Thorne chased down a fly ball by Skovron, then Brett Tharp ripped a single up the middle as East Hardy threatened to score only to come up empty as Baker’s grounder was lost momentarily by Thorne before picking it up in time for a fielder’s choice out at second base to squash a chance for a run.
Kimble singled into center field after a pair of groundouts collected by East Hardy third baseman Noah Miller and Tharp on the mound before being stranded on a groundout by Cameron Kisamore to Baker at first base with a throw to Tharp.
In the top of the third inning, East Hardy went down in order as Christian Dove flew out to center field, then Puffenberger tracked down two dropped third strikes for throws to Davis to get outs on Andrew Tharp and Noah Miller.
Rexrode took a towering shot toward the left field fence and Andrew Tharp leapt for the ball and crashed into the fence with the ball falling off the fence back into play for a triple which was disputed.
After a pop-out, Tharp walked Thorne and Puffenberger to load the bases.
Davis hit into a fielder’s choice back to Tharp with the throw home for the second out, then East Hardy catcher Alex Miller attempted to get the double play and the ball was initially caught in the air by Baker with Davis plowing into him causing the ball to be jarred loose as both players fell to the dirt and a run came home in the process for a 5-2 score.
Wagoner was given a free pass loading the bases again for the Wildcats, then Lambert hit an RBI single past Noah Miller and Smith fielded the ball with no time to fire the ball to first base, 5-3.
Tharp got out of the jam with a strikeout to Kimble.
The Cougars failed to get on base in the fourth inning on three groundouts by Smith, Whetzel and Alex Miller.
Pendleton County’s Cameron Kisamore grounded out to Noah Miller, then Rexrode drew a walk and Evick popped out to Whetzel at second base with the inning ending on a fielder’s choice hit by Thorne from Whetzel to Smith.
In the fifth inning, Kimble induced a groundout by Skovron with Davis stepping on top of the base holding his foot there which caused Skovron to trip creating an injury. Skovron was able to remain in the game, despite immediate pain rolling in the dirt.
Brett Tharp grounded out before a walk was issued to Baker, who was stranded at second base on a flyout by Dove.
Puffenberger singled up the middle for the Wildcats and stole second base prior to Tharp striking out Davis.
Wagoner and Lambert were given walks to load the bases as Tharp hit his pitch count limit and Skovron was sent to the mound.
Pendleton County added a run as Kimble was walked on a full-count with the Cougars holding a 5-4 edge.
Kisamore jogged to first base thinking it was a walk, but the umpire had called a strike for a full-count and the confusion had Miller throwing to Baker to make the tag with a rundown moments later ending in an error plus a collision at third base which was all for nothing as Kisamore was sent back to the batter’s box resulting in a strikeout pitched by Skovron.
An intentional walk to Rexrode plated the tying run for the Wildcats and Whetzel snatched a line drive to end further damage at 5-all.
East Hardy’s Andrew Tharp popped out to pitcher Kimble for the first out of the sixth inning, then Noah Miller flew out to Evick in center field and the Cougars came up empty as Smith flew out to Rexrode in shallow right field.
Thorne grounded out with Noah Miller making the throw to Baker at first base, but the coaches and fans argued the call to no avail.
Dove came in to pitch for the Cougars to save pitching for Skovron later in the playoffs.
Dove sandwiched walks to Puffenberger and Wagoner around a pitch thrown into Davis which loaded the bases for Pendleton County.
Lambert hit an RBI single into left field and Davis slid safely into third base on the play as the Wildcats took a 6-5 lead.
Kimble hit into a double play as East Hardy right fielder Seth Smith made a diving catch and threw to Baker for the last out at first base.
Kimble’s curveball was hard to solve as Whetzel and Alex Miller went down swinging with both being thrown out at first base as the ball had deflected away from Puffenberger initially.
“Christian [Dove] is a young player and he will eventually come around and he’s a freshman. He was a little excited with it being a close game and that put more pressure on him. When he gets older he will have that pressure too. It’s good for him to get used to it now. We wanted to save Clay [Skovron] for later in the week, so we took him out to pitch later on. We didn’t capitalize on it [Kimble’s pitching] and at the beginning of the season we were crushing him, but for whatever reason we couldn’t hit him tonight. We struggle hitting the curveball as it is and we weren’t having a good night with it. We’ll come back tomorrow and make a few changes, regroup and be ready to play,” Coach Heflin concluded.
Skovron singled as the ball ricocheted off of Kimble, then during Tharp’s swing on a second strike it was Puffenberger making the pickoff throw for the final out at first base as Davis applied the tag as Skovron tried sliding back.
Davis held the glove up waiting for the call and jumped for joy along with his teammates as Skovron stayed on the ground in shock during the loss.
For the second round of the tournament on Wednesday, Pendleton County visited Moorefield and East Hardy hosted Tucker County in the double elimination format.
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