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The championship game is set for 50 minutes after the 5:30 p.m. Class AAA final concludes Saturday. 

The timely hitting made a winner of sophomore Ryan Bowman, who Redskins coach Brian Sutphin opted to send to the mound instead of senior ace Weston Smith, the state's Gatorade player of the year who signed with West Virginia University. The calculated risk worked.

"Bowman has done that all year," Sutphin said. "He throws a lot of strikes and competed. He doesn't back down."

Bowman allowed nine hits but only one run, struck out two and walked none in four innings before leaving in the fifth for reliever Wyatt Gautier, who earned a save.

Sutphin said successful at-bats with two outs is a mindset.

"Timely hitting is what baseball's all about," Sutphin said. "Hedgesville is a good team. If they got some timely hitting, I might not be standing here talking to (members of the media)."

Sutphin said the performance at the plate didn't surprise him.

"That's actually a parallel to the team," he said. "They keep fighting and stick together. It's nice to see that come to fruition."

The Eagles had at least one hit in each inning except the seventh, the only time they went out in order. They left seven runners on base.  

In the first inning, Hurricane took better advantage of its opportunities with two outs than Hedgesville did with one. The Eagles loaded the bases on three singles with one out, but James Viands grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, one of two that ended Hedgesville rallies.

With two outs for the Redskins, Smith singled to right, stole second, then scored from there on a throwing error by third baseman Austin Manor to give Hurricane a 1-0 lead.

The Redskins worked two-out efficiency again in the second when Tyler Baxter singled home Braylon Hutchison, who opened the bottom half of the inning with a base hit and went to second on Brady Rigney's sacrifice bunt. 

Hedgesville performed better with two outs in the third and so did Viands, who ripped a hit to left-center to drive in Mason Elliott and pull the Eagles within 2-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, again with two down, Bryson Shirkey was hit by a pitch, and Baxter singled for one of his three hits on the day. Smith, with a 2-2 count, slapped a base hit to center to score both runners, giving Hurricane a 4-1 advantage.

Smith, who was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in, said clutch hitting was essential to winning.

"That's always important," Smith said of the two-out prowess. "You just have to have the mindset you're going to make something happen even if there are two outs."

One inning later, with two away, Rigney singled to center to knock in Griffin Dempsey, who had led off with a walk, for a 5-1 lead.

The Eagles got in on the two-out scoring in the sixth when Brett Pedersen's single scored Noah Brown. Pedersen, who was 2 for 3, then scored on a Shirkey throwing error to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Elliott went 2 for 4 for Hedgesville. 

HEDGESVILLE 001 002 0 -- 3 11 2

HURRICANE 110 210 x -- 5 7 2

McGill, Stefanko (5) and Knieriem; Bowman, Gautier (5) and Dempsey.

Hitting: (He) Knieriem 2-4, Perdersen 2-3, Dunham 2B; (Hu) Baxter 3-4, Smith 2-4, 2 RBIs.