Parkersburg third baseman Landon Allman picks up the ball in foul ground during Tuesday's game against Hurricane at City Park. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Brodee Lucas was a batter away from a shutout here Tuesday evening at Bennett Stump Field inside City Park as Hurricane secured an 8-1 victory versus Parkersburg to remain unbeaten in Mountain State Athletic Conference play.

The defending Class quad-A state champions of skipper Brian Sutphin watched Lucas finish with nine strikeouts against two walks while allowing four hits and the one earned run.

Lucas, who was relieved after running out of pitches by Ethan Stover, plunked center fielder Parker Woods with one away in the first, but the righty proceeded to retire a dozen straight before Noah Holland’s two-out single back up the box in the fifth broke up his no-hit bid.

“Obviously, Brodee gave us a lift on the mound,” said Sutphin, who watched catcher Judson Witt lead the offense with a three-hit effort that included a double and a pair of runs-batted-in. “Got ahead of a lot of hitters and changed speeds, and we made some good plays defensively.

“I felt like we kind of jumped out early and then we just kind of flattened out, but I mean a lot of that was credit to them. After the first inning they made plays, settled down and their guys pitched well. We’re not there yet.”

Parkersburg pitcher Connor Elkins prepares to field a ground ball during Tuesday's game against Hurricane at City Park. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Connor Elkins didn’t walk a batter and fanned one during a start where he scattered six hits and allowed three earned runs.

“Luckily, the errors, I think they only got one unearned run so that didn’t really hurt us, but still you can’t give a team like that extra chances,” admitted PHS head man Alan Burns, whose team had a quartet of errors.

Lucas was staked to a 3-0 lead before he toed the rubber. Leadoff man Aiden Ocheltree singled to open the affair while Tyler Baxter and Ryan Bowman followed with singles. Baxter drove in Ocheltree, who had advanced to second on an error.

Cleanup hitter Luke Young reached on a fielder’s choice as Baxter made it 2-0 on Ian Martin’s run-scoring knock. The Big Reds’ second error followed as Young scored after stealing third when the throw ended up in shallow left.

Elkins then retired six straight before allowing a leadoff single in the fourth to Witt, who was replaced by courtesy runner Kolten McKown. McKown gave the Redskins (10-7, 7-0) a 4-0 cushion after he stole second and raced home on Brayden Dunkley’s RBI single to center.

Hurricane courtesy runner Kolten McKown steals second as Parkersburg's Jaxon Myers keeps the tag on during Tuesday's game at City Park. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Relief pitcher Gavin Fling entered for the fifth and sixth, but walked Baxter and hit Bowman. Young was the third batter he faced and coach Sutphin had him sacrifice the runners, which led to Witt’s two-run double and a 6-0 bulge.

No. 9 hitter and second baseman Trey Cox reached on a one-out error in the sixth as the lead increased to 7-0 following Ocheltree’s two-bagger to left.

Hurricane, which returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday in Huntington, tacked on one more in the seventh when Witt reached on an infield single and was lifted for McKown, who scored on Dunkley’s second RBI single.

Cole Sisk opened the PHS sixth with a double to right, but Lucas got CJ Carrodus on a comebacker before striking out Fling and Woods.

The Big Reds (8-6, 3-5), who play host at 7 p.m. Friday to George Washington, averted the shutout thanks to a little two-out lightning. Jaxon Myers singled to center and the bases were loaded after a Holland single and a Tyler Cameron base on balls. Lucas ran out of pitches after Sisk coaxed an RBI free pass, but Stover got Carrodus to ground out to Martin at short.

Parkersburg catcher Evan Schultheis fakes a throw to first during Tuesday's game against Hurricane at City Park. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“They’re good. I mean we’re young and our guys got to realize, like I told them after the game, they got to learn that they can compete with these teams,” Burns said. “They are right there with them. Right now I think our kids came in timid of this game and I said ‘there’s no reason for that.’

“We’ve beaten them I think three of the last five years, but they got to realize ‘hey, we can play with these guys,’ and I think they finally realized it late in the game but by then it was a little too late. That’ll (GW) be another big one. We need to get that one to get up into the league a little higher.”

For Sutphin, he likes how things are progressing overall in the early going after graduating a solid class of seniors.

“It was a good group. I mean no doubt about it. We’ve got five seniors right now and I feel like this time of the season we’re making strides,” said the HHS skipper.

“We’ll do some things. We’re just not consistent yet, but I think we’ll get there. The weather has been conducive and you got a chance to get out on the field and get better.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Hurricane 8, Parkersburg 1

WP: Brodee Lucas 6.2IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 9SO

Ethan Stover .1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO

LP: Connor Elkins 4IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 0BB, 1SO

Gavin Fling 2IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 3SO

Noah Holland 1IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1SO

Hurricane (10-4, 7-0 MSAC) hitting: Aiden Ocheltree 2-4 R, 2B, RBI; Tyler Baxter 1-3, 2 R, RBI; Ryan Bowman 1-2 R; Luke Young R, SB; Judson Witt 3-4, 2B, 2 RBIs; Kolten McKown 2 R, SB;

Ian Martin 2-4 SB, RBI; Brayden Dunkley 2-4, 2 RBIs; Trey Cox R

Parkersburg (8-6, 3-5 MSAC) hitting: Jaxon Myers 1-3 R; Holland 2-3; Cole Sisk 1-2, 2B, RBI

Next games: Hurricane at Huntington, 7 p.m. Thursday; George Washington at Parkersburg, 7 p.m. Friday.