Bucs halt Fairmont Senior's late rally to escape with 5-4 victory

May 14—FAIRMONT — Fairmont Senior gritted its collective teeth to summon the fight to mount a rally, but the Polar Bears never could quite harness the execution needed to secure a win versus visiting Buckhannon-Upshur on Thursday at Mary Lou Retton Park.

The Polar Bears, who trailed 5-0 heading into the fifth inning, made a vicious comeback over the final three frames to slice the Bucs' lead to a single run at 5-4, but a series of squandered chances at the plate and free bases given on the mound and in the field ultimately did Fairmont in in a 5-4 loss.

"It's just one of those games you hope to forget and move on from," said Fairmont Senior coach Dave Ricer. "We just weren't taking advantage of situations. We went into the sixth inning and their (pitcher) had only thrown 56 pitches up to that point — we're just not patient enough with the bat where we got bases loaded and we get a first pitch pop-up, or we're swinging on 3-0 counts."

Despite the foibles in the batter's box for most of the evening, Fairmont Senior did stitch together a last-gasp charge over the final three innings, as it came through with six hits, three earned walks, and another two base runners who reached via error to tick off four runs and made it a one-score game. The Polar Bears even got the winning run on base in the bottom of the seventh after a two-out RBI double by Gunner Riley that made it 5-4 and then an intentional walk by first baseman Will Runyan.

But FSHS senior outfielder and No. 8 hitter Bryson Flowers couldn't quite keep the Polar Bears' life support machine running as BU relief pitcher Elijah Arbogast coaxed Flowers into a pop out to second base with a pair of runners on to end the game.

"It's huge (to close out a game), especially at this time of year when it's kind of winding down," Bucs coach Adam Squires said. "We're trying to figure out who we can count on in certain situations (like this) and Elijah is a guy we can always count on. He came in and got it done for us."

The relief efforts of Arbogast, who pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, preserved what was a strong overall performance from starting pitcher James Burnside. Burnside exited in the bottom of the sixth with two outs after going 5.2 innings and surrendering just two earned runs on seven hits to go with three strikeouts versus two walks and a hit batter.

"The biggest thing with him is he knows he's not a high strikeout guy, he's a guy who has to throw to contact, and I thought he did a good job of throwing ground balls and fly balls today," Squires said. "He's got a couple of different pitches to keep the batters off balance, and that was the biggest thing he had working today."

While Burnside and the Bucs' defense carried the victory, BU also got just enough timely hits at the plate, as it cobbled together its five runs off of just six hits. Sophomore leadoff hitter Zachary Calef-Boring accounted for two of those hits, including an RBI gap single in the fourth, as he went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Burnside and catcher Ian Donnen each added RBI singles, while Zach White and Cameron Tenney also had hits.

The majority of Buckhannon's imposed damage at the plate came in the fourth when it brought across four of its five runs on three hits — all of which were RBI singles by Calef-Boring, Burnside and Donnen — two walks, and a couple of Fairmont Senior fielding errors to chase Polar Bears starter Haden Jones from the game.

"We left way too many guys on base, but when you get chances like that where they're making mistakes and giving you extra outs, you got to capitalize and we were lucky enough to get it done," Squires said.

"Haden Jones as a freshman did a heck of a job in his first start," said Ricer, with Jones allowing just two earned runs on five hits. "If we get a couple of calls here and there in the first inning, he's probably out in nine pitches, and I thought he kept his composure and did a nice job. And then you have to realize, too, that our middle infield has only been playing together for a week because of basketball, so it's going to take an adjustment. We're coming."

Fairmont's rally thereafter started in the fifth when it scored its first two runs of the game on an RBI triple by No. 2 hitter Kyle Brubaker to left center field and an infield RBI single by Dominic Viani.

Fairmont Senior then tacked on another run in the sixth after consecutive BU errors to start the frame, and the Polar Bears were set up with a golden opportunity to draw even closer after loading the bases thereafter with no outs following singles by Runyan and Flowers. But Buckhannon miraculously squirmed out of the inning with no further damage done as it made a series of clutch plays.

Burnside first recorded a bases-loaded strikeout for out No. 1, then the Bucs turned a wild pitch into out No. 2 by tagging out Riley at the plate. And finally, following a walk that chased Burnside from the game, Arbogast came on in relief to notch out No. 3 with a strikeout.

"You have to rely on your defense," Squires said. "You have to be ready to make plays and we were able to do that."

Email Bradley Heltzel at bheltzel@timeswv.com or follow him on Twitter @bradheltzTWV.