Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 head coach Todd Engle talks to his players between innings during Thursday's district tournament game against Zanesville. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY – Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 was one play away from being eliminated in the District Tournament Thursday evening at Fort Frye High School.

Trailing 6-4 to Zanesville Post 29 with two outs and the tying runs in scoring position in the top of the seventh inning, Beverly/Lowell got a big break when a throwing error allowed both runners to score and then took full advantage of their new life by scoring six times in the eighth inning to stave off elimination with a 12-6 win.

Kainain Bradford’s three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning put Bev/Low in front to stay and Dominic Fry took care of things on the bump the rest of the way to allow Post 389/750 to survive to fight another day.

“I thought we showed a lot of energy and a lot of heart those last two innings to pull this one out,” said Beverly/Lowell head coach Todd Engle. “The first win is always the hardest one to get in tournament play so hopefully this is just the start.”

The early parts of the game were a titanic struggle for both squads as the first two innings were as ugly as ugly could be.

Beverly/Lowell scored twice in each of the first two innings while Zanesville scored five times in the bottom of the first.

Those nine runs came without a single ball being hit out of the infield and the two teams combined for six walks, five hit batters, four bunt singles, three errors and even a base runner being hit by a ground ball all in the first two innings of play.

After Bev/Low starting pitcher Easton Walker was unable to escape the first inning, Jacob Laswell took over on the mound and kept Zanesville at bay to keep the score at 5-4 heading into the sixth inning.

Zanesville added what appeared to be a huge insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Coen Grandstaff singled and came around to score on a double by Ethan McClellan.

Needing a pair of runs to tie things up heading to their final at bat things looked rather bleak for Engle’s squad after the first batter of the inning was retired on a line out to center field.

Owen McCoy was hit by a pitch and JR Curry followed with a single to keep their hopes alive.

Tavin Brooks struck out for the second out of the inning but both base runners moved up a base after the ball got away from the Zanesville catcher.

Grady Hesson then hit a roller to the Zanesville shortstop but the throw to first was off of the mark and got past the first baseman to allow both runners to scamper home to tie the game at 6-6.

Zanesville reliever Alstun Williamson was able to retire the final hitter of the inning to send the game into extra innings.

Fry came on in relief of Laswell in the bottom of the seventh and all he did was fan all three hitters he faced to send the game to extra innings.

Fry led off the top of the eighth inning with a single and moved to second when Coleman Welsh collected his fifth hit of the game.

Zanesville elected to replace Williamson on the mound with left hander Justin Stambush to face the left-handed bat of Bradford.

After a failed attempt to bunt the runners over a base, Engle had a change of heart and gave Bradford the green light and that move paid huge dividends.

With two strikes Bradford stroked a three-run home run over the fence in right field to give Beverly/Lowell a 9-6 lead.

“When they brought the left hander in and were going lefty to lefty we thought it was a no-brainer and we had to bunt him,” said Engle. “He doesn’t bunt a lot and after I saw his first attempt we couldn’t afford to let him pop one up so we let him swing it and he really made us look good for sure.”

Post 389/750 added three more runs in the inning including back-to-back doubles by shortstop Nate Silvus and McCoy.

Fry allowed a hit in the bottom of the inning but fanned two more as Beverly/Lowell pulled out the win just before darkness set in on the Muskingum River.

“Our crowd as they always was phenomenal tonight and we are fortunate to have this every night,” said Engle. “It’s a pleasure to be part of something like this that the community supports so well.”

Beverly/Lowell improved to 23-13 with the win and will hope to keep things alive today when they take on Cambridge/Belle Valley in another elimination game at 6 p.m.