Fort Frye head coach Trey Engle huddles with players during a Marietta mound visit Saturday in Beverly. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY – The Marietta Tigers simply made too many miscues on the road Saturday to have any chance of gaining a season split against the Fort Frye Cadets.

The Tigers committed six errors in the game including three in the very first inning and despite a late rally fell to the Cadets 6-5 on a cool Saturday morning in Beverly.

The always-fundamentally sound Cadets committed just one error as they improved to 13-5 on the season despite stranding 10 base runners in the game.

“It was one of those games with a whole lot of ups and downs and we left a whole lot of runners on base,” said Fort Frye head coach Trey Engle. “I thought our kids made all the plays and did what we had to do to get a win against a very good team.”

Marietta got on the board first with a solo run in the top of the first inning off of Fort Frye starting pitcher Kainan Bradford.

Fort Frye records an out at home plate during Saturday’s game against Marietta. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

With one out, second baseman Will Tornes singled and stole second.

First baseman Carter Hutchinson plated Tornes with a solid single up the middle.

Tornes was actually tagged out at the plate by Fort Frye catcher Wyatt Duskey after a strong throw from center-fielder Jack McCurdy but the home plate umpire ruled that Duskey blocked the plate and did not give Tornes room to touch the plate giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Fort Frye would get that run back in the first inning and another one to boot thanks to some shaky Tiger defense.

McCurdy led off the first for Fort Frye with a base hit off of Tiger starter Drew Warden and quickly swiped second.

The speedy Cadet center fielder moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored when Bradford’s line drive to the outfield was misplayed for an error.

Two more errors on the Tiger infield would allow Bradford to score the go-ahead run before Warden was able to minimize the damage by retiring the final two Cadet batters to leave the bases loaded.

The Cadets picked up another run in the bottom of the second when with one out McCurdy walked, moved to second on a Grady Hesson single and scored when Bradford singled to right to give “The Fort” a 3-1 lead.

After a perfect second inning, the Tigers reached Bradford for another run in the top of the third.

Shortstop Seth Goeller led off the inning for MHS with a single and moved to second on the only Cadet error of the game.

Goeller stole third before Bradford walked both Tornes and Hutchinson to load the bases with nobody out.

Center fielder Owen Riley was hit by a pitch to force in the second run of the inning and the Tigers appeared on the verge of a big inning.

Fort Frye came up with a huge defensive play though when Chidester grounded a ball to third baseman Caden Henniger who fired the ball home to Duskey for one out and Duskey’s throw to first baseman Ty Worthington was in time for a rare 5-2-3 double play to end the inning.

Bradford then retired Jeremiah Loughery on a fly ball to center to keep the Fort Frye lead at 3-2.

Engle pulled Bradford from the game after he tossed a perfect fourth inning and turned the ball over to Wade Duskey to begin the fifth trying to protect the one-run lead.

Marietta greeted Duskey rather rudely as back-to-back doubles by Tornes and Hutchinson made it a brand new ball game with a 3-3 tie.

“That’s kind of been our thing this year that when our backs are against the wall that’s when we start playing,’ said MHS head coach Kail Hill. “We are never out of it and we find a way to be in every ballgame.”

It wouldn’t take the Cadets long at all to retake the lead as they batted around to score three times in the bottom of the fifth to chase Warden.

Wyatt Duskey was hit by a pitch to get things started and stole second.

Chatam Courson laid down a perfect bunt and the throw to first got away for another Tiger error which allowed Duskey to score from second to put the Cadets back in front.

Wade Duskey walked and Carter Brown reached base on a fielder’s choice before Henniger singled to load the bases.

McCurdy’s infield grounder scored another run before the Tigers booted Hesson’s grounder to allow another run to score and give the Fort a 6-3 lead.

The Tigers were not ready to pack it in just yet as they went right back to work in the top of the sixth.

Singles by Zach Birge and Elijah McElfresh began the inning before freshman Malachi Brooker’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position.

Birge scored on a wild pitch before Goeller and Tornes both drew walks to load the bases.

Wade Duskey got out of trouble though when he got Hutchinson on a sacrifice fly to center field that scored McLeish before getting Riley to fly out to end the inning.

The Cadets went quietly in the bottom of the sixth off of MHS reliever Adam Barnett and Duskey went back to the bump in the top of the seventh looking to close out the Tigers.

The Tigers managed to get a base runner on a one-out single by Loughery but Duskey retired the final two hitters to preserve the 13th win of the season for the Cadets.

Dusky was credited with the win after allowing five hits and three runs over the final three innings of the game.

“Both of our pitchers did a really good job,” said Engle. “(Wade) went through a little bit of a rough patch but he figured it out and got us through it”

The loss dropped Marietta’s season mark to 8-9 with a handful of games to figure things out before tournament time.

“We are really struggling to secure the baseball and we’ve got to stop giving free bases on defense,” said Hill. “In a one-run ball game if we make those routine plays it might be a different ballgame.”

The Tigers will host Athens on Monday while Fort Frye travels to Caldwell on Tuesday.

“Getting a win over a team like Marietta helps with points and rankings especially late when you are getting ready for tournament time,”said Engle, whose team blanked the Tigers 5-0 earlier in the season. “They are a quality opponent and they are never out of the game so it feels good to get this one.

at Fort Frye High School

Fort Frye 6, Marietta 5

MHS 101 102 0 5-8-6

FFHS 210 030 X 6-6-1

WP: Wade Duskey 3IP, 5H, 3ER, 2BB, 3SO

Starter: Kainan Bradford: 4IP, 3H, 2ER, 3BB, 4SO

LP: Drew Warden: 4.2 IP, 6H, 6R, 2ER, 3BB, 3SO

Adam Barnett: 1.1 IP.

Marietta (8-9) hitting: Carter Hutchinson 2-3, 2B, 3RBI, Seth Goeller 1-3, R, Will Tornes 1-1, 2R, 2B, Bryson Chidester 1-3, Jeremiah Loughery 1-4, Zach Birge 1-4, R, Elijah McElfresh 1-4, R, Owen Riley 0-3, RBI.

Fort Frye (13-5) hitting: Jack McCurdy 1-3, 2R, RBI, Kainan Bradford 1-2, R, RBI, Chatum Courson 1-3, Caden Henniger 1-3, Grady Hesson 1-4, Wyatt Duskey 0-3, R, Wade Duskey 0-2, R, Carter Brown 0-2, R.

Next Games: Monday, Athens at Marietta, Tuesday, Fort Frye at Caldwell.