WEST UNION, W.Va. — In each of his team’s three losses to this point, South Harrison baseball coach Frank Tate noticed a consistent theme — a lack of hitting from the Hawks in timely spots.
So when Doddridge County scored five runs in the home half of the second inning Monday to build a four-run lead against the Hawks, Tate figured his team would have to buck the trend to avoid a fourth setback.
South Harrison did just that by responding with three runs in the third and three more in the fifth, which combined with a complete game from starting pitcher Layton Wageman allowed the Hawks to rally for a 7-5 road victory.
“Some things didn’t go our way, we got down 5-1 and I told the kids we don’t have to get it all back at once. Let’s chip away,” Tate said. “The biggest thing we did tonight that we probably haven’t done in the three losses was hitting with guys in scoring position. We haven’t done that well in our losses. I’m real pleased with the way we hit the ball with runners on base.”
The Class AA No. 9 Hawks (7-3) began their charge back in the third starting with a leadoff single from Brogan Medina, which was followed by a Gabe Ferrell base-on-balls.
Wagemen’s walk led to a bases loaded situation with no outs, and Seth Gain trimmed his squad’s deficit in half on one swing that produced a two-run double to right. Corey Saltis earned a RBI on a fielder’s choice that brought in South Harrison’s fourth run later in the third.
Wageman, who was touched up for five runs on four hits in the second, worked around Landon Clevenger’s one-out single in the bottom of the inning to keep his team’s deficit at one run.
Both Doddridge reliever Triston Swiger and Wageman retired the side in order in the fourth, allowing the Bulldogs to enter the fifth with the 5-4 lead.
That frame began with Wageman belting a double to left field, and courtesy runner Charlie Crossan crossed the plate with the tying run on a double steal shortly after. Then came a Saltis double that drove in the go-ahead run, and he scored from second with two outs on a single from No. 9 hitter Jaycen Beachler.
“Corey and Layton are seniors that at this point have played more than 95 games each since they started as freshmen,” Tate said. “We should be shining and we’ve talked about this team is going to be a little bit of a problem if we all start hitting, because we have a pretty potent lineup that we can roll out there and I don’t think we’ve hit our potential yet.”
DCHS threatened in its half of the fifth as an error combined with Dayne Murphy’s single put two on to start the inning.
Then came perhaps the most critical out of the contest as Wageman caught Brody Brockelman leaning off second, and he was ultimately tagged out in a rundown for the first out of the fifth.
Wageman followed with a strikeout of Luke Rokisky and inducing a fly ball to right off Clevenger’s bat for the final out of the frame.
“Base-running is one of the most important parts of the game,” Bulldogs’ head coach Nate Wright said. “Being smarter there, who’s to say Luke doesn’t hit something there? It changes the dynamic.”
Swiger was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the sixth, which ended with him being caught stealing second base seconds after Wageman struck out Josh DeHaven.
Doddridge got the tying run to the plate in the seventh after Brockelman’s two-out single, but Murphy’s ground ball to second amounted to the final out.
“Layton’s a good pitcher. He settled in well, but from our side, our approach changed after that second inning,” Wright said. “We haven’t put teams away. For instance, we were up on Williamstown last week and didn’t put them away. We haven’t finished games consistently to beat good teams. That’s where we’re at.”
After Zane Harlow’s single in the top of the second allowed South Harrison to score the first run, the Bulldogs countered with five in their half of the inning, which featured a two-run triple from leadoff hitter Caleb Sutton and Brockelman’s run-scoring triple.
Four of Doddridge’s seven hits came in the second.
Wageman struck out three and walked one over a complete game victory that almost never came about.
“We were going to lift Layton in the fifth and he said, ‘No, I want to go.’ When your senior leader tells you that, you just go with it,” Tate said.
Swiger took the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits over three innings.
The Bulldogs won the first regular season matchup between the two teams by the identical score of Monday’s matchup.
“Doddridge County has a great club and our whole region is tough,” Tate said. “From top to bottom, it’s a juggernaut and we’re going to keep going at it heavyweight swinging.”