Fort Frye's Grady Hesson (10) is congratulated by teammate Wade Duskey during Wednesday's 8-4 win versus Parkersburg South at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Grady Hesson went the distance here Wednesday at Hank Greenburg Field as visiting Fort Frye doubled up Parkersburg South, 8-4, and snapped the Patriots’ four-game winning streak.

Before Hesson threw his first pitch the junior was staked to a 4-0 lead. He allowed six hits and just one earned run to go with three base on balls and five strikeouts as the Cadets had a trio of errors.

“I’ll tell you what. He didn’t have his best stuff today and he knew it and he battled through it,” admitted FFHS skipper Trey Engle, whose squad improved to 9-2 and will try to make it 6-0 at home today when Wheeling Central invades.

“We definitely did not help him out defensively, which we’ll get shored up. I can promise you that. That’s probably our worst defensive game, but the bats showed up tonight in a good way. We played a lot of team baseball, bunting guys over and taking the extra base where given it.”

Losing pitcher Easton Walker, who worked the first two innings, plunked Wyatt Duskey to open the game. After a Jack McCurdy sacrifice, Hesson singled to put runners on the corners and it was 2-0 after Kainan Bradrod’s stand-up three-bagger to left-center.

Parkersburg South's CJ McCartney scores the Patriots' first run during Wednesday's 8-4 setback to Fort Frye at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Wade Duskey’s RBI single made it 3-0 and after Clayton Tullius singled, Zander Lowe had an RBI bunt groundout.

Parkersburg South watched leadoff man CJ McCartney reach on an infield single. After Eli Davis reached via an error and Carter Fluty had a sacrifice bunt, Walker lifted a ball into center for a sac fly.

The Patriots, who were without head man Bryan Youngblood, got a run back in the second. Logan McVey drew a free pass to open the frame and runners were on second and third after Seth Menarchek’s bunt turned into an error. However, the only run came when McVey bolted home following a wild pitch.

Patriot relief pitcher Peyton West stymied the Cadets from the third through the sixth. In 4 2-3 innings, he allowed one hit, one walk, an earned run and had four strikeouts. Going to the seventh, West retired 12 of the 14 batters he faced.

Parkersburg South, which slipped to 6-8, closed to within one after tacking on a run in the sixth. West singled and went to second thanks to an outfield error and scored on Menarchek’s knock to center. Although he stole second, Hesson got out of the jam after striking out Asher Prunty and Jackson McVey.

Fort Frye's Kainan Bradford gets congratulations from head coach Trey Engle after his two-run triple in the first inning of the Cadets' 8-4 win Wednesday versus Parkersburg South at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I thought we had a rough first inning obviously. We gave up a four-spot there. I thought Walker pitched well,” said acting head coach Nate Currey. “They just had some hits and they hit pretty good.

“He came back in the second inning and shut the door. Then we decided to go with West and he really, right until the last inning, just shut them out. I was pleased with his performance there.”

Fort Frye, which sent nine batters to the plate in the first, did the same again in the seventh. Wyatt Duskey took one for the team again to open the frame and he scored on McCurdy’s RBI single to right.

It appeared as though the Patriots would get out of the inning with just one run allowed after Hesson lined a shot that turned into a 9-3 double play on a hit-and-run, but a South error opened the gates for three more tallies.

Bradford reached on the error and was replaced by pinch-runner Cade Hoskinson, who scored along with Wade Duskey and Tullius.

Parkersburg South's Eli Davis asks for time during Wednesday's 8-4 setback to Fort Frye at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Tullius plated Hoskinson via an RBI single. Duskey, who walked and was the last batter West faced before being replaced by McCartney, came to the plate following another PSHS error. Lowe, who was celebrating his birthday, added his second RBI on a bloop single.

“I think all-in-all as a team we did well. It was his birthday so happy birthday to him,” said Engle.

“He’s kind of become almost an RBI machine for us. I know throughout the year he hasn’t had a ton of hits, but I mean he knows what to do with the bat when he gets the opportunity and people are in scoring position. He does a really good job with that.”

The Patriots tried to rally in the seventh, but had to settle for a single run. Davis had a one-out triple and was knocked in via a Fluty sac fly.

Parkersburg South has a couple days off before heading to the McDonald’s Classic on Saturday. The Patriots play at 10:30 a.m. versus Washington at Robert C. Byrd before taking on Wheeling park at 2:30 p.m. at Bridgeport.

Fort Frye's Wyatt Duskey blocks a pitch in the dirt during Wednesday's 8-4 win Wednesday versus Parkersburg South at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I hope coach Youngblood is back this weekend. We miss him,” said Currey. “I tried to tell them today to play for coach Youngblood. I thought we played well.

“I think just a couple of things didn’t fall our way. There’s nothing to hang our heads about. The best thing about baseball is you have a lot of games. We got two more on Saturday.”

Coach Engle knows the task at hand against the Maroon Knights will be challenging after falling 15-1 to them earlier in the season.

“It’s definitely a big one. We kind of marked it in our calendars a little bit,” he said. “They’re good and well coached. They got a lot of talent and I know when we went up there it was kind of over as soon as it started, and we kind of knew that after the first inning, but the guys battled the whole time. We’re hoping to take the momentum from this one into that one.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg South acting head coach Nate Currey has a meeting on the mound during Wednesday's 8-4 setback to Fort Frye at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Fort Frye 8, Parkersburg South 4

WP: Grady Hesson 7IP, 6H, 4R, 1ER, 3BB, 5SO

LP: Easton Walker 2IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 2SO

Peyton West 4.2IP, 1H, 3R, 1ER, 1BB, 4SO

CJ McCartney .1IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO

Fort Frye (9-2) hitting: Wyatt Duskey 2 R; Jack McCurdy 1-2 SB, RBI; Hesson 1-4 R; Kainan Bradford 1-3 R, 3B, 2 RBIs; Cade Hoskinson R; Wade Duskey 1-2 R, RBI; Clayton Tullius 2-4 R, RBI; Zander Lowe 1-4, 2 RBIs

Parkersburg South (6-8) hitting: McCartney 1-3 R; Eli Davis 1-4 R, 3B; Carter Fluty 1-1, 2B, RBI; Walker RBI; West 1-4 R; Logan McVey R; Seth Menarchek 2-3 SB, RBI

Next games: Wheeling Central at Fort Frye, 5 p.m. today; Parkersburg South in McDonald’s Classic on Saturday – 10:30 a.m. vs. Washington at Robert C. Byrd; 2:30 p.m. vs. Wheeling Park at Bridgeport

Fort Frye's Zander Lowe, pictured here fouling off a pitch, celebrated his birthday with a pair of runs-batted-in during the Cadets' 8-4 win Wednesday versus Parkersburg South at Hank Greenburg Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)