Fort Frye’s Grady Hesson, left, slides safely into second base as the ball gets past Barnesville’s Max Miller during Saturday’s game in Beverly. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

BEVERLY — In a Saturday afternoon showdown pitting clubs with identical 16-5 records against one another, it was Fort Frye which prevailed over Barnesville 6-1.

The Cadets made sure the game, which had a good crowd and a bit of a tournament atmosphere, was played despite some overnight showers.

“We were here at 9 a.m. working on the field,” said junior Grady Hesson. “We knew this was a big game and we wanted to play it.”

The right-handed Hesson led the way for FFHS, pitching a complete game with nine strikeouts to earn the win. He allowed one run on one walk and three hits as head coach Trey Engle’s squad improved to 17-5.

“Felt pretty good coming into today,” said Hesson, who was also 2 for 4 at the plate. “Our pitching coach called a pretty good game. I knew whatever he called, just got to execute it, and it will work.”

Fort Frye’s Grady Hesson delivers a pitch against Barnesville during Saturday’s game in Beverly. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

Blake Burkhart was the losing pitcher for the Shamrocks. He walked one and fanned three in 4 â…” innings of work.

Hesson pitched a 1-2-3 first inning and then staked the Cadets to a quick 1-0 lead. After Jack McCurdy led off with a single and stole second, Hesson drove him in with a poke to center field.

Barnesville (16-6) took advantage of Fort Frye’s only blunder of the game in the fourth inning. With a runner on first, Hesson’s pickoff attempt hooked left and went to the fence, allowing Brayden Watters to go first to third. Watters came in to score on Dylan Blon’s single to right to tie the game up.

“They had really good approaches,” Hesson said. “They’re all looking the other way. There’s a lot of really good hitters on that team. Just had to keep them off balance and mix it up.”

The Cadets answered right back in the bottom half. Caden Henniger drew a two-out walk and stole second before coming around to score on Wade Duskey’s base knock.

Barnesville pitcher Blake Burkhart (14) holds Fort Frye’s Grady Hesson on third base during Saturday’s game in Beverly. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

Fort Frye tacked on two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings from there.

In the fifth, Hesson led off with a single and swiped second. Three-hole hitter Kainan Bradford, who reached base three times in the game, gave himself up with a sacrifice bunt to move Hesson to third. Grady Shuster cashed in with an RBI single to make it 3-1.

“It just says a lot about his character — to sacrifice yourself to help the team win,” Hesson said of Bradford, a senior who is committed to playing baseball at Muskingum University. “Everybody on this team is unselfish.”

In the sixth, McCurdy had an RBI single and Chatum Courson drew a bases-loaded walk. Overall the Cadets had nine hits in the game — two apiece from Hesson, McCurdy and Wyatt Duskey.

Fort Frye also put on an impressive display of defense throughout the afternoon. To end the fourth inning, Hesson and catcher Wyatt Duskey combined for a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play as Duskey caught Blon trying to steal second.

Then in the fifth, Gunner Dudzik tried to start a two-out rally with a sharp line drive to shallow center, but McCurdy covered a ton of ground and made a diving snag to end the inning.

“Our defense has been solid all year,” Hesson said. “Couldn’t ask for a better defense.”

The Cadets turn their attention to Sunday’s tournament draw before visiting Morgan on Wednesday.

“As the season’s gone on, we’ve become closer as a team,” Hesson said. “We’re playing for each other more, especially these last three or four games. We just really want to win. We really want to play as far as we can, as long as we can, and I think we’re just coming together as a team a lot more.”

Fort Frye 6, Barnesville 1

F 100 122 x — 6 9 1

WP: Grady Hesson 7 IP, 1 BB, 10 SO

LP: Blake Burkhart 4.1 IP, 1 BB, 3 SO

Keegan Martin 1.1 IP, 2 BB, 0 SO

Dylan Gallagher .1 IP, 1 BB, 0 SO

Barnesville (16-6) hitting: Gunner Dudzik 1-2, 2B; Dylan Blon 1-3, RBI; Brayden Watters 1-3, R

Fort Frye (17-5) hitting: Jack McCurdy 2-4, 2 Rs, RBI; Grady Hesson 2-4, R, RBI; Wyatt Duskey 2-3, R; Grady Shuster 1-2, RBI; Wade Duskey 1-3, RBI; Kainan Bradford 1-1; Chatum Courson RBI; Caden Henniger R; Cade Hoskinson R