No. 4 Allegany rallies for 6-5 comeback win over Mountain Ridge

CUMBERLAND — Trailing 5-2 in the sixth inning, No. 4 Allegany rallied with four runs and completed a 6-5 comeback victory over Mountain Ridge on Monday.

"We did not play well for the large majority of the game," Alco manager Jon Irons said. "The worst part is what we talked about. The whole thing for today was regardless of opponent or our playoff situation, we need to be playing our best baseball right now.

"Today's goal was to go out and play our best baseball, and we didn't do it. We found a way at the end, but we did not play well."

The win ensured an Allegany split of the Western Maryland Athletic Conference (WestMAC) title with Northern (13-6, 6-2 WestMAC).

"Bad coaching on my end," Mountain Ridge skipper Joshua Glass said. "Should've had someone getting warmed up. Kinda got away from me, got in the situation where I had to bring someone in off the field. That's not me at all.

"Didn't have John (Delaney) mentally prepared. I told him he wasn't gonna throw at all 'till the playoffs a week ago, and I brought him in. As a coach, that's a coaching error, I'll take that."

In the bottom of the sixth, the Campers (11-6, 6-2 WestMAC) loaded the bases on a Liam Buck single and walks from Max Fradiska and Daulton Harper.

Cade Bauer hit a grounder to short and beat the low throw for an RBI infield hit.

Dylan Irons worked a free pass, then two groundouts put Alco ahead 6-5.

"Our approach at the plate," coach Irons said of what sparked the rally. "We did a better job being patient and knowing what to look for and wait until we got it. We went back to doing what we'd been working on all year. It was unfortunate we waited until the very end to start doing that."

The Miners (5-14, 2-6 WestMAC) opened the scoring in the top of the first on a Delaney sacrifice fly.

Eston Powell evened the score on a double in the bottom of the second.

Mountain Ridge took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth off two infield errors.

"I feel like that was a lack of focus," coach Irons said of the errors. "This team has a tendency to ride emotional waves. We've been trying to work our way through that and talk to them about how you can't do that in baseball. We rode a little bit, I think we got down on ourselves today and that can't happen."

In the fifth, a sacrifice fly from Brayden Glass and a fielder's choice stretched the Miner lead to 5-1.

"We were just aggressive," coach Glass said. "We swung at good pitches and took advantage of a couple errors they had. We were ready to play."

Allegany had three hits in the first two innings, then didn't record one until Bauer's RBI single in the sixth.

The Campers finished with six hits, led by Liam Buck's 2-for-3 effort.

"We had a terrible approach at the plate for most of the game," coach Irons said. "We were swinging at things in counts that we should never be swinging at.