Frankfort heading to Charleston, wins region over Fairmont Senior

May 23—SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Entering the seventh inning up 3-2, it looked like Frankfort was three outs away from heading to the state tournament.

Fairmont Senior had other plans, putting two runners in scoring position.

With the Class AA, Region I title on the line, the Falcons recorded the final out, holding on for a 3-2 victory on Wednesday.

"I'm just proud of our guys, they've worked so hard and earned everything they've gotten this year," Frankfort head coach Matt Miller said. "Special group, they've bonded together, they've leaned on each other."

Through six innings, Cam Lynch allowed two hits and six walks.

After a groundout opened the top of the seventh, Cam Peschl drew a walk.

Lynch got a three-pitch swinging strikeout for the second out.

Dylan Ours stepped in with the Polar Bears' (22-9) season down to its final out.

He hit a ground ball that found the gap in left for a double, putting the tying run on third and go-ahead run on second.

"They're all competitors, they've been counted out for the last two or three weeks," Fairmont Senior head coach David Ricer said. "They were determined that they could show they could do it. We came up 90 feet short."

After 110 pitches, Lynch's night was done as Rhett Sensabaugh took over.

Three pitches later, Lynch fielded a ground ball at second and flipped it to Uriah Cutter at first, sending the Falcons' (20-8) dugout into jubilation.

Frankfort struck first with a sacrifice fly from Jacob Nething in the bottom of the first.

For both teams, most of the offense came in the fourth inning.

Through the first three frames, the Polar Bears had one baserunner that reached on an error.

That changed in the fourth as Fairmont Senior forced Lynch to throw 35 pitches.

"I was throwing a bunch of balls, but they started barreling my fastball," Lynch said. "I had to mix it up a little bit, throw more curveballs and changeups."

Sammy Viani hit the first pitch of the fourth inning on the ground to right for a leadoff hit.

After a flyout, the next three batters drew walks, tying the score at 1.

After a strikeout, another walk gave Fairmont Senior a 2-1 lead.

"I think we saw him a few times and he was starting to struggle a little bit," Ricer said. "They've seen a lot of good pitchers this year, Cam was up there. Just got dialed in, they'd taken a look at him and started putting the ball in play."

The Falcons answered in the bottom of the fourth with three straight singles.

Lynch sent the first pitch of the frame into left, Nething hit a grounder to third and beat the throw, then Cutter sent a ground ball past second.

Now tied at 2, Jaxon Hare hit a line drive to right for an RBI single to put Frankfort up 3-2.

The Falcons only scored in the first and fourth innings, but both were defined by patience.

In the first, Frankfort had four counts go to either 2-0 or 3-0, then in the fourth, it turned two 0-2 counts either to 2-2 or a full count.

Miller had high praise for Fairmont Senior starter Logan Canfield.

He went six innings, allowing seven hits, three runs and three walks with a pair of strikeouts.

"Even though we did those things, he still kept his pitch count down," Miller said. "Our game plan was to try and work counts and hit fastballs. What a pitcher's duel, both kids battled. Our strategy was to try and get his pitch count up, but he did a good job, threw strikes."

Lynch went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and seven walks with five strikeouts.

"Not letting the fourth inning overcome him emotionally," Miller said of what stood out most. "He battled through that inning, kept it right where we needed to keep it. Then he fought through the fifth and sixth. I'm just proud of how he battled through that fourth inning and got under control."

In the top of the sixth, he fell behind in the count 3-0.

Lynch fired three straight pitches without a swing, getting a called strikeout to end the inning.

"That helped us out a lot," Lynch said. "It got my confidence way back up because they were barreling a bunch of balls the last inning. Coming in 3-0, getting behind and winning that count helped me a lot."

Hare was the only Falcon with two hits, also driving in a run.

Ours recorded two of Fairmont Senior's three hits.

Frankfort heads to GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, West Virginia, for the Class AA state tournament on Friday, May31.

The No. 2 seed Falcons will face No. 3 seed Herbert Hoover (20-12).

It will be 30 minutes after game one between Winfield (29-4) and Independence (20-12), set to begin at 10 a.m.

Winfield is the reigning Class AA champion who defeated Keyser 3-0 in last year's title game.

"They're family to me," Lynch said. "They're the best group of kids I've played with. Not skill wise, not anything like that. Just becoming a family."