SHORT GAP, W.Va. — It often isn’t who makes the most spectacular plays that decides a baseball game; it’s the team that makes the routine ones in crucial moments. That was Allegany on Monday.
Dueling right-handers Bryce Madden of Allegany and Cam Lynch of Frankfort went toe-to-toe on the rubber, and both teams’ defenses took hits away behind them.
However, Frankfort blinked first, making a pair of errors in the fourth — the latter a costly overthrow from the outfield — to allow two unearned runs to score.
That ended up being the difference, as No. 1 Allegany edged No. 5 Frankfort, 4-2.
“We played well defensively, and we pitched very well,” Allegany head coach Jon Irons said. “You’re going to have games when you aren’t going to hit it as well, and you have to have those two things to fall back on.”
The matchup had little resemblance to the teams’ prior bout two weeks prior when Allegany rolled to a 12-2 rout on May 17 in Cumberland.
The one constant between the two games, however, was the excellence of Madden on the rubber.
Madden labored early Monday, walking lead-off man Lanson Orndorf, who eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Uriah Cutter. The Alco arm needed 22 pitches to get through the first, but he settled in and averaged just under 14 an inning the rest of the way.
The junior allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings of work, striking out seven and walking two in the complete-game victory. Allegany didn’t commit an error behind him.
Frankfort’s Blake Jacobs doubled in the sixth — his second hit of the game — and scored on a Cam Lynch single to cut the Falcons’ deficit to 4-2, but Allegany turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the rally.
Madden retired the Falcons in order in the seventh, striking out two, to finish the job.
“They play great defense and they pitched really well,” Frankfort head coach Matt Miller said. “That’s the second time we’ve seen Bryce and he throws well. Throws a lot of strikes, throws pretty hard, good breaking pitch.
“Top of the order handled him ok, but as we got down to the bottom we struggled a little bit.”
The bottom six batters in Frankfort’s line-up went 0 for 16.
Pitching with an early 1-0 lead, Lynch faced the minimum through three innings, picking off the only Allegany base-runner to end the second stanza.
Cayden Bratton one-hopped the left-field fence for a double to lead off the fourth, and Madden tied the game at 1-all one batter later with an RBI seeing-eye single up the middle.
Following an error on a Griffin Madden grounder that put two runners on with no outs, Alex Kennell hit a go-ahead RBI single to right center.
The Falcons compounded the knock by throwing the ball over the catcher, and nobody backed up the play to allow Madden to scamper home all the way from first base to make it 3-1 Allegany.
“We made three mistakes, they scored three runs on it and that’s the difference,” Miller said, referencing the two errors and lack of back-up in the fourth. “You can’t do that against a really good team.”
Kennell continued to put the barrel on the ball Monday, going 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.
The perfect performance upped his batting average to .569 on the year — the highest mark in the area.
“Alex is seeing the ball really well,” Irons said. “Alex understands situational hitting. He could hit it up on that bank, but if he’s up with runners in scoring position, he knows to hit it the other way on a line.”
Bratton and Bryce Madden both went 2 for 4, and Caden Long drove in Kennell with a single in the sixth for an insurance run. Allegany out-hit Frankfort, 8-3.
Despite the one shaky inning by Frankfort, the Falcons made several standout plays.
Noah Raines robbed Josef Sneathen of extra-bases in the fifth inning, making a running grab in the left-center gap. One batter later, first baseman Lane Lease reached over the fence in foul territory and brought the ball back for the second out.
Lynch was tabbed with the loss despite a complete-game performance of his own, as he allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits in seven frames with five Ks and a walk.
Frankfort (10-10) will hope to get back in the win column when it heads to Hedgesville on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“We’re young, but we’re going to keep fighting,” Miller said. “We’re getting better at the right time.”
Allegany (15-2) heads to No. 4 Mountain Ridge (7-7) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
“We have to go out and get after Mountain Ridge,” Irons said. “It’s a really big game for us. We need to go out and get that win. It’ll help us in the playoff standings.”