Frankfort routs Keyser, 10-1, to capture section championship (2024)

KEYSER, W.Va. — Blake Jacobs provided Frankfort’s impetus for a championship; Cam Lynch and Jacob Nething signified its culmination.

Jacobs’ solo shot two batters into the game set the tone. On consecutive pitches in the seventh, Lynch doubled to left-center field and Nething hit it to the same spot over the fence — both plating two runs — to erase all doubt.

Frankfort was the better team on Saturday between those moments too, and the 10-1 rout of archrival Keyser netted the Falcons their first Class AA, Region I, Section 2 championship in three years.

“All year long I’ve been telling our guys, we’re a good team,” Frankfort head coach Matt Miller said. “We’re going to handle our business. We had some rough patches along the way in a couple games, but we knew we were super talented. We knew we were good enough to win. And that’s what we did.”

Keyser (18-5) was the region’s No. 1 seed ahead of Frankfort and Fairmont Senior — the top squad in the other section and the Falcons’ likely regional opponent — after a 16-3 regular season that included 13 straight wins at one juncture.

However, the Golden Tornado’s season ended after falling twice to Frankfort (18-8), first dropping into the loser’s bracket with a 5-1 defeat to their Mineral County rival on Wednesday.

Keyser needed to beat Frankfort on Saturday and again Monday for the section crown, but Frankfort didn’t let it get that far.

Lanson Orndorf broke a 1-1 tie with an RBI single during a three-run third inning, and with Lynch allowing just one run in six innings on the mound striking out 13, that was more than enough.

The extra-base hits by Lynch and Nething in the seventh were Frankfort’s zenith, and two more insurance runs in the final frame on a wild pitch and a Gunnar Bradshaw single were just a cherry on top.

Keyser plated its lone run in the bottom of the first when Logan Rotruck answered Jacobs’ big fly with an RBI single, but the Golden Tornado were blanked over the final six frames and finished with just six base hits.

“Frankfort capitalized on their opportunities, and we didn’t,” Keyser head coach Scott Rohrbaugh said. “Patrick (Liller) pitched good enough to win. We played defense good enough to win. When we had opportunities, we didn’t score runs.”

Noah Broadwater accounted for a third of Keyser’s hits with a 2 for 2 day, including a double.

In contrast, four Falcons finished with multiple hits. Orndorf was 2 for 4 with a triple, Jacobs ended 2 for 4 and scored three times, Lynch went 2 for 4 and drove in a pair, and Bradshaw was 2 for 4.

Nething led the way with three runs batted in.

Liller was dealt the loss, allowing eight runs (five earned) on nine hits with six strikeouts and two walks in six innings of work. Lucas Williamson came on in relief and gave up two runs in an inning.

Jaxon Hare pitched a scoreless seventh after Lynch hit his pitch count in recording the final out of the sixth, which was fittingly a strikeout.

Lynch was the latest in a line of quality pitching performances for Frankfort during its 3-0 sectional run.

Hare didn’t allow an earned run over four innings in a 19-2 rout of Grafton in the team’s postseason opener, and Orndorf did the same over seven complete on Wednesday against Keyser.

Lynch may have ended the trend in the first inning Saturday, but his stuff was the nastiest of any Falcons pitcher this season — the right-hander’s 13 strikeouts were a single-game high by any Frankfort pitcher all year.

Orndorf had the previous top mark, fanning 11 in a 5-3 win over New York’s West Seneca East on April 4 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“He got the game ball today. He got it done. He’s our leader,” Miller said of Lynch, one of two Frankfort seniors. “I’m glad he gets to continue (his career) and go to a regional, and we still have a lot of business to handle.”

The scholastic careers of nine Keyser seniors, meanwhile, came to a close.

The group — Broadwater, Rotruck, Liller, Evan Jenkins, Bubba Bean, Josh Shoemaker, Chase Davis, Adam Jones and Wyatt Murray — will always be remembered for its storybook 2023 run to the Class AA state championship game.

Over the past two years, those seniors had a 39-12 record.

“I’ve had them for four years,” Rohrbaugh said. “They’re top-notch young men to start with. They’re good baseball players, but they’re really good individuals, nice young men. I’m going to miss them.”

Frankfort is awaiting its regional opponent, though it’ll likely be Fairmont Senior (20-5), which needs to be beaten twice by East Fairmont (16-9) in the Section 1 championship game.

The Falcons will be off next week in preparation for the three-game regional series that begins the following Monday.

“We know we’re going to have our hands full with whoever it is,” Miller said. “We’re going to work hard in the next week and prepare and be ready to go.”