Gunner Lucas' walk-off groundout sends Tigers past county rival Hillbillies

Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports

CHAPMANVILLE   Gunner Lucas hit a game-winning RBI groundout in the seventh inning and Chapmanville defeated Class A No. 2 Man 4-3 on Monday night at Ted Ellis Field.

Man (10-4) starting pitcher Braxton Messer retired Andrew Topping for the first out in the bottom of the seventh but had to exit the game after exceeding the 110-pitch count limit. Eli Pridemore drew a one-out walk off reliever Cam Gerace and moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on Lucas' groundout.

Jacob Vance had two hits and drove in one run and Kaleb Burford, Lucas and Jaxon Topping each had one hit and one RBI to help Chapmanville (5-8) snap a three-game losing streak.

Vance (1-2) pitched seven innings allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and one walk to pick his first win of the season.

Gerace (2-1) allowed one run and walked one in 1/3 inning of relief of Messer, who allowed three runs - two earned - on seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.

Man opened the scoring on Cody Walls RBI groundout in the first inning to score courtesy runner Gavin Bartram for a 1-0 lead.

Kaleb Burford's run-scoring single in the bottom of the second brought home Peyton Dingess to even the score at 1-1.

The Hillbillies went ahead 2-1 on Messer's single in the top of the third, but Chapmanville answered with two runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead.

Pridemore started the inning with a double to left-center and came around to score on Vance's one-out double to left-center to tie it at 2-2. Vance came around to score on Jaxton Topping's RBI double down the left field line to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

Messer's second run-scoring single in the top of the fifth scored Landon Cantrell, who led off the fifth with a double and advanced to third on Gerace's fly out to right field, to knot the score at 3-3.

Messer had two hits and drove in two runs for Man. Gerace added two hits, Landon Cantrell and Hayden Fraley each had one hit and Walls drove in one run for the Hillbillies, who lost consecutive games for the first time this season.

Pridemore had a double and scored twice and Andrew Topping had one hit for Chapmanville.

Man travels to Class A fourth-ranked Huntington St. Joe's on Wednesday while Chapmanville will travel to Class AA No. 5 Scott on Tuesday.