McHENRY — Fort Hill took advantage of its scoring opportunities, and No. 2 Northern didn't.
That was the difference in the Sentinels' 6-3 victory at Garrett College on Friday.
"We pieced it together today," Fort Hill head coach Tanner Brode said. "That was something we talked about yesterday, of the victories we've had, we still haven't pieced a full game together. Today, I think we took a step in that direction."
Northern had four innings with at least two runners on and loaded the bases in the first and sixth innings.
The Huskies (4-1, 2-1 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) only scored twice with the bases loaded, a two-run single from Wally Brands in the second inning that put Northern in front 2-1.
"I told the kids why baseball's a great game," Northern head coach Phil Carr said. "Every day's a different day. It's a team that down in Cumberland, Luke (Ross) dominated them on the mound, threw a no-hitter. They came out swinging the bats today. We had multiple opportunities, we were really bad in situational hitting."
Brands led the Huskies going 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a stolen base.
With two on in the bottom of the seventh, a sacrifice fly RBI by Nick Riley drove in the other run.
Colt Resh took over on the mound for Carson Bender with one out in the sixth and the bases loaded.
He struck out the next two batters, then stranded two runners in the seventh to end the game.
"We're extremely proud of Colt and how he's panned out," Brode said. "Right now, he's statistically our best pitcher. Hopefully, he can keep riding that the rest of the way."
Bender went 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits, two unearned runs and four walks with five strikeouts.
The Sentinels (5-2, 3-2 WestMAC) opened the game with three of the first four batters hitting singles, setting up an RBI groundout for Jacob VanMeter.
In the top of the fifth, Bobby Brauer sent a ground ball past third base, scoring two runs on a single that gave Fort Hill a 3-2 lead.
On the next pitch, Jake Rice hit a line drive to right for an RBI single.
The following inning, Coye Resh added a pair of runs to Fort Hill's lead on a base hit to center.
Colt Resh led the Sentinels with three hits while Brauer, Rice, Bender and Coye Resh each recorded two.
Robert Deatelhauser started for Northern and allowed four hits and a run across four innings.
"I'll second guess myself for taking Robert out," Carr said. "I didn't think he was dominant like Robert normally is. We didn't think he had his great stuff and he got us four innings. He was settling in a little bit, but we thought let's go with Luke because we've only played one game this week. He just threw a no-hitter, so who wouldn't think that would be a good thing to do."
Ross was charged with seven hits and five earned runs after throwing a no-hitter against Fort Hill in the previous meeting on March 25.
"The BP (batting practice) rounds have been solid the past couple of days," Brode said. "We believe we can handle just about any pitcher in the area. Just instilling that confidence in our guys, that's something that I think we had some difference today."
Both teams play on Monday at 4:30 p.m. as the Sentinels host Spring Mills at the Hot Stove Complex while the Huskies travel to Mountain Ridge (2-4, 0-2 WestMAC).
"That's why baseball's a great game," Carr said. "It's not like football where you're bigger and badder than anyone else. Baseball's not like that, every pitcher's gonna be different every day. They did everything they needed to do to win, and we didn't do a lot of things to ...
