Fort Cumberland wins 1st regional game in 89 years; runs all over Berkeley, 8-1

Aug. 4—MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — "That team wasn't us," was the prevailing message after Fort Cumberland's opening-round defeat Wednesday.

Post 13 was back to its old self Thursday, and that was bad news for Berkeley Post 14.

Fort Cumberland stole six bases during a six-run fourth inning, and Parker Ferraro worked through five shutout innings to power Post 13 to an 8-1 drubbing of the West Virginia state champions at Dale Miller Field.

The elimination-game victory was Fort Cumberland's first regional win since 1934.

"At the batting cage today, I refused to let them be serious, just to loosen them up," Fort Cumberland head coach Brian McAlpine said. "That's the way they played. ... I was really pleased with the defense. After yesterday's meltdown, they came back and played strong out there."

Fort Cumberland (13-10) lives to play another day and will take on the loser of Brooklawn, New Jersey (21-4), and Wilmington, Delaware (17-3), on Friday at 4 p.m.

A day after falling to three-time reigning Ohio state champion Yeager-Benson Post 199, 12-6, Fort Cumberland faced another tough test with Lane Delauter — the brother of Chase Delauter, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft — on the mound.

Both teams felt each other out through two-and-a-half scoreless innings, but Cumberland manufactured its first run in the third without so much as a base hit.

With runners on first and third with one out, Landon McAlpine swiped second base, and a low throw from the Berkeley catcher allowed Leuma Pua'auli to scamper home from third for a 1-0 lead.

The sequence was a sign of things to come.

An inning later, Fort Cumberland ran roughshod around the bases, executing two double steals to frustrate Delauter and Chase Herndon, who relieved the big right-hander midway through the frame.

Fort Cumberland finished 10 for 10 on stolen base attempts, led by McAlpine, Tyson Shumaker and Caedon Wallace with two apiece.

"We saw a little bit of a weakness there," coach McAlpine said of the running game. "All the runners were saying it was easy to see when he was going home. Even when they were putting the lefties in there, we were getting pretty decent jumps."

With a flood of runners in scoring position, the dam eventually broke, as Pua'auli hit a two-RBI single up the middle, Shumaker legged out an RBI infield single and Alex Kennell drove a run in with a sacrifice fly.

The six-run frame gave Fort Cumberland a 7-0 lead — it had just three base hits at the time.

Ferraro, meanwhile, didn't have his best stuff on the mound, but he battled through five innings to earn the victory. The right-hander allowed no runs on three hits with a strikeout and four walks.

Carson Bradley threw out all three would-be Berkeley base stealers.

"He's so consistent, blocks everything. His arm is phenomenal," coach McAlpine said of his catcher. "You better get a good jump to get into bags with him throwing. ... It's not only Carson. Our pitchers take no time going to the plate."

Pua'auli came on in relief of Ferraro and allowed one run over his two innings of work — a solo home run to right field by Chase Herndon for Berkeley's lone tally.

Cumberland tacked on an insurance run in the sixth after Kennell reached with a double in the right-center gap; he eventually touched home on a wild pitch.

While Cumberland didn't rip the cover off the ball, it displayed impressive plate discipline, drawing nine walks — six off Delauter, who didn't allow a hit in his three innings of work but surrendered three runs.

Two stars from Fort Cumberland's last state championship team in 1976, Paul Ackerman and Larry Edwards, made the trip to Morgantown and talked to the team before the game.

The team wanted to finally win its first regional contest in 89 years for them and for the legion, but there is still more baseball to be played.

Whether it's the New Jersey or Deleware state champions — both sporting multiple Division 1 commits — it'll be a tough challenge. Fort Cumberland will have Landon McAlpine, Aeden Custer, Steven Spencer and Shumaker available to pitch.

Post 13 is just hoping the best version of itself shows up to Dale Miller Field Friday afternoon.

"Once you get to this point there are no easy games," coach McAlpine said. "We'll approach (Friday) the same way we did (Thursday)."

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.