Frontier’s Brayden Powers (6) sprints toward home as Belpre catcher Blake Binegar awaits a throw during a high school baseball game Wednesday in New Matamoras. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

NEW MATAMORAS — Freshman Luke Mendenhall stole third and came home to score what would prove to be the winning run on a throwing error in the fifth inning Wednesday evening as the Frontier Cougars edged the visiting Belpre Golden Eagles 6-5.

Cougar starting pitcher Zerik Rinard scattered 10 base hits in a complete game win backed by a Frontier defense that didn’t commit a single miscue in the game.

“I thought we played a really solid game defensively and made the plays we needed to make,” said Frontier head coach Kurt Satterfield. “I was proud of the way we kept our composure and limited our mistakes.”

Belpre wasted little time getting things started in the opening inning as they scored a pair of runs off of Rinard.

Adrik McLaughlin singled to open the game and A.J. Copen followed by drawing a base on balls.

One out later Carson Moore drilled a double into left field to score both runners and give the Eagles the early 2-0 advantage.

Frontier got even by scoring single runs in the first and second innings off of Belpre starting pitcher Haiden Tabler.

Rinard brought in the first run in the opening inning with a sacrifice fly but the Cougars left the bases loaded after drawing four walks.

Ethan Rinard drew another walk to open the second inning and came into score the second run of the game for Frontier on a single by shortstop and leadoff man Brayden Powers.

After the tough start Zerik Rinard settled down nicely on the bump for the Cougars as he retired 14 consecutive Belpre hitters at one point.

Frontier would break the tie in the bottom of the fourth inning by scoring three times off of Moore who relieved Tabler in the third inning.

Catcher Zeke Rinard got things started for the Cougars with a base hit and was erased at second on a fielders choice off the bat of Ethan Rinard.

Briley Hupp and Powers drew back-to-back walks for the Cougars bringing senior first baseman True King to the plate with the bases loaded.

King had fanned on both of his previous at bats but came up big by grounding a single up the middle to score a pair of Cougar runs.

“We seem to struggle coming up with that big key hit sometimes and it was great to see True come through there,” said Satterfield. “He had a couple

of rough at-bats so it was good to see him bounce back in such a clutch situation.”

Zerik Rinard helped himself again with a run-scoring single and the Cougar lead swelled to 5-2.

The Eagles wasted little time getting even though as they scored three times in the top of the fifth inning.

McLaughlin led things off by drawing a walk and A.J. Copen singled.

After both runners stole a base to move into scoring position, Chris Copen singled to score a pair of runs and cut the lead to one.

Moore followed by collecting the second of what would be three hits in the game for him before Kurtis Lemon singled to tie things up at 5-5.

The Cougars were the beneficiaries of nine free passes issued by the Eagle pitchers and Mendenhall walked to begin the bottom of the fifth inning.

Mendenhall moved to second on a passed ball but remained standing at second base as the next two Cougar hitters were retired.

Satterfield gave Mendenhall the steal sign and has he slid into the third base the throw sailed high over the third baseman’s head and down the left field line allowing Mendenhall to score what would be the game winning run.

“We wanted to put some pressure on them so we had Luke steal third,” said Satterfield. “I had a vision that the throw might be wild and we were fortunate to take advantage of their mistake.”

The Cougar head coach was quite impressed with the job Zerik Rinard did on the mound.

“We are reluctant to pitch him sometimes because he is one of the very best catchers in the area and we are much better defensively with him behind the plate,” said Satterfield. “He’s getting much more comfortable out there though and he could be a guy we use in the tournament games.”

The Cougars improved to 7-9 with the win and will travel to Beallsville on Thursday.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Eagles who slipped to 7-13 on the season and host Waterford on Monday.

“It was definitely one of those ball games that could have gone either way and hats off to them they performed when they needed to and we didn’t,” said Belpre head coach Nate Watson. “The boys have been playing so much better of late so we have a lot of positivity heading into the tournament.”