Keyser capitalizes on base running opportunities in 13-3 win over Southern

Mar. 31—KEYSER, W.Va. — No. 2 Keyser got on base often and capitalized on its chances in a 13-3 home win in six innings over No. 4 Southern on Thursday afternoon at John Kruk Field.

The Golden Tornado (2-2) pulled away late, scoring seven runs in the final two innings.

"You'll take a win anywhere," Keyser head coach Scott Rohrbaugh said. "We worked them for some walks. We were able to get some runs in. I'll take a win and we're back on track."

The Rams (1-3) made several errors defensively that allowed Keyser to take control of the game.

"We gotta come out and compete," Southern head coach Kyle Dinterman said. "We didn't compete today. We preach compete every day and missed today, it says it on the scoreboard."

Tanner Haskiell started for the Rams and struggled with control early. He hit two batters in the first inning and five in the game. One led to the Tornado's first run on a double steal when Noah Broadwater stole home.

"He was losing control of the pitch," Dinterman said of Haskiell. "He's gonna get back the control. He's ready to play and get back to the next day."

Bubba Bean made it 2-0 two batters later on an RBI single to left.

Keyser was also aggressive on the base paths to open the game, stealing nine bases as a team.

"I got speed, I wanna use it as much as I can," Rohrbaugh said. "We haven't had the opportunity in the last couple games like I would like to. We had the opportunity early, I wanna use my speed anytime I can."

A second double steal by Chase Davis in the second inning scored the third run for the Tornado.

The Rams also struggled with errors, committing four overall.

"We can't keep giving outs," Dinterman said. "That's a competitive ball game if we can control what we can control."

A throwing error trying to get the runner at first allowed two runs to score as the Tornado extended their lead to 5-0.

Jared Haskiell doubled to left in the third inning for Southern's first hit, but the Rams couldn't bring him home.

In the bottom of the third, a throwing error by the catcher scored the runner from second to make it 6-0.

In the top of the fourth, Tanner Haskiell led off with a solo home run to center field.

"It was big trying to get some juice out of the guys," Dinterman said. "We were having quality at-bats to start the game. Those at-bats started to fade away. If we can be consistent with our at-bats, we have a heck of a chance to win, but that didn't happen."

Southern's Brayden Upole took the mound in the fourth. After loading the bases with two outs, he got a groundout to end the inning.

"Once again, another big moment that gave us some juice," Dinterman said. "But we didn't capitalize on it."

Up 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Tornado continued to build on their lead.

Broadwater singled to center for an RBI. Keyser completed another double steal for its eighth run as Broadwater scored. Its ninth run came on a wild pitch.

"We gotta play our game," Dinterman said. "When they start to pull away, we gotta compete with ourselves. We're beating ourselves, they're not beating us."

After loading the bases with no outs in the top of the sixth, Seth Healy entered to pitch for Keyser.

He gave up two sacrifice fly RBIs to Ryan Bird and Upole.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Tornado loaded the bases with no outs. A wild pitch scored another run and a sacrifice fly by Jullian Pattison pushed Keyser's lead to 11-3.

"Put the ball somewhere, you gotta make the defense make a play," Rohrbaugh said. "Strikeouts don't do anything, if you put the ball between the white lines you always got a shot. That's what we did today."

Broadwater hit a two-run base hit on the final play of the game. He was also Keyser's starting pitcher and earned the win going five innings and allowing five hits, one run and one walk with six strikeouts. Healy pitched one inning allowing two hits.

"Outstanding, even in the two losses this week you can't ask for any more out of them," Rohrbaugh said of his pitchers. "Other than throwing more strikes to keep his pitch count down, Noah was in control most of the game."

The Tornado combined for six hits. Broadwater led by going 3 for 3 with three RBIs and two hit by pitches.

"I'm glad he had three hits," Rohrbaugh said. "I've been waiting for him to have two or three hits in a game. He was due today and I'm glad he did."

Tanner Haskiell took the loss going three innings, allowing one hit with six runs and a walk. He hit five batters and struck out six.

Upole, Jack Healy and Reese Tasker finished the game. Upole went two innings allowing five hits, three runs and three walks with one strikeout.

The Rams combined for five hits. Upole and Tanner Haskiell each had two, with Upole going 2 for 2 with a double and a sac fly while Haskiell went 2 for 2 with a home run and a walk.

"Brayden's done a heck of a job for us offensively," Dinterman said. "He took one off the ankle and still had a quality at-bat. I can't think of a time he didn't go deep in the count. He's a heck of a guy to have at the beginning of our lineup."

Southern is at Fort Hill on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Keyser travels to Martinsburg, West Virginia for a doubleheader on Saturday. It will play Petersburg at 1 p.m. and Martinsburg at 3.

"We need to hit better, put the ball in play a little more," Rohrbaugh said. "Still taking a lot of strikes, two strike pitches on the outside. We need to piece together some hits when we got some runners in scoring position."

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.