Martinsburg gets on base early and often in 18-6 win over Frankfort

Mar. 21—SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Martinsburg's batters spent a lot of time on the bases in an 18-6 road win over Frankfort on Monday night.

The Bulldogs (3-0) combined for 14 hits and 13 walks. The Falcons (0-3) combined for 10 hits and three walks.

"We're doing fine, we're plugging away," Frankfort assistant coach Tony Whiteman said. "It's early in the season, we're working pitchers on different pitch counts. We've been doing a lot of the little things right, we just haven't been able to capitalize when we needed to."

After a scoreless top of the first inning, Frankfort loaded the bases on a infield single by Cam Lynch. Uriah Cutter drew a full count walk to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.

"I forget what the stat is, but walks score 20% more of the time than singles do," Whiteman said. "Anytime you have a chance to get a run and you don't, you look back and regret it. We did a good job, we just weren't able to get a big inning out of it."

Martinsburg responded in the top of the second inning with a three-RBI double by Landon Sefford to take a 4-1 lead.

The Bulldogs added to their lead the following inning with a bases-loaded walk scoring the runner from third base.

In the bottom of the third inning, Brady Wilson hit a deep sacrifice fly to left center to cut the Falcons deficit to 5-2.

"Tonight we walked too many guys," Whiteman said. "That was the only thing as far as the pitching goes. We made most of the plays we needed to make. We couldn't get the timely hit when we needed to, we couldn't get the timely out when we needed to."

Martinsburg responded with three runs in the fourth inning. Two came on a two-RBI double from Jamere Brown.

The Bulldogs continued to build their lead in the sixth inning with a two-run triple to right center by Jordan Canby.

"That one big certainly hurt," Whiteman said. "Us not being able to come up with the hits to chip away at that. We were looking in the seventh inning, we were up to 190 pitches. We threw too many pitches, we talked too many guys. It kept us from being able to get any momentum to have a chance at coming back."

Down 11-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Falcons found some late offense. Frankfort hit three consecutive RBI singles off the bats of Lanson Orndorf, Blake Jacobs and Lynch.

"That's one thing I'm really encouraged by," Whiteman said. "We don't lay down, we keep playing. Other years, sometimes we'd get defeated and lay down. This team doesn't, they keep playing."

Martinsburg pulled away for good in the seventh inning with seven runs. Sifford hit a three-RBI triple and Michael Lupes hit a two-RBI double for the Bulldogs.

Jacobs started on the mound for Frankfort and went two innings. He allowed four hits, four runs and three walks with two strikeouts.

"He's young, they're learning," Whiteman said. "He threw a few more pitches than ideally what we wanted him to. Overall, he also pitched out of a couple jams he got into. He battled hard, he does a good job. I'm positive about all of it."

Noah Raines, Jaxon Hare and Noah Houdersheldt finished the game out of the bullpen.

Offensively, Lynch led Frankfort going 4 for 4 with three singles and a RBI.

"He's been doing great," Whiteman said. "He's been a leader, he's been making hits when we needed to. He's been making plays in the field, his arm's strong. He's been doing it all, so we're really happy with what he's doing."

Ben Reisenweber pitched the first 3 2/3 innings for the Bulldogs. He allowed three hits, two runs and one walk with three strikeouts.

Christian Alter pitched the final 3 1/3 innings and allowed seven hits, four runs and one walk with two strikeouts.

Sifford went 3 for 4 with six RBI and two hit by pitches. Reisenweber went 2 for 3 with two singles and a RBI.

Both teams are on the road on Tuesday. Martinsburg faces Jefferson at 7 p.m. while Frankfort plays Moorefield at 5 p.m.

"I don't know much about Moorefield, but they're always a good team," Whiteman said. "It's a good program, we're playing up there. You gotta play clean, gotta take care of business."

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