The history of the intense rivalry between Hagerstown and Union County in baseball is legendary. Hard-fought, close and extra-inning games are the norm. Thursday, April 30, the Hagerstown baseball team traveled to renew their rivalry and the teams wrote another exciting chapter in a game that had huge implications in the Tri-Eastern Conference race.
For the Tigers, it was a must win game to hold on to their share of the TEC lead. For the Patriots it was a must win game to keep their slim TEC hopes alive.
For seven innings the Tigers’ bats were silenced. They could not hit Cole Cheatham, a West Virginia University commit with a 95-mph fastball. Cheatham faced 22 batters and 16 were strikeout victims.
Graham Vinson hit a first inning double that, combined with errors, led to two runs in the first inning, and the Tigers added one run in the third. The teams were still deadlocked at 3-3 after three innings.
For the last four innings of regulation, neither team could score. Cheatham left the mound after six innings with the game still tied at 3-3. Neither team scored in the seventh inning, sending the game to extra innings.
The Tigers exploded for five hits and four runs in the top of the eighth inning and held the Patriots scoreless in the bottom of the eighth to take a 7-3 win.
Nolan Cheeseman pitched six innings in relief, holding the Patriots scoreless, to earn the win. Isaiah Martinez, pitching in relief for the Patriots, suffered the loss. Union County collected seven hits; Hagerstown collected six hits. No player for either team had more than one hit.
Hagerstown (12-3, 5-0 TEC) 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 7
Union County (7-8, 2-2 TEC) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Hagerstown hits: Fletcher Callahan, Cheeseman, Jaxon Hale, Gaige Howard, Zach Logston, Vinson
Union County hits: Cheatham, Xander Hounchell, Colton Johnson, Gunner Miller, Charlie Payne, Cam Salsberry, Peyton Williams
A version of this article appeared in the May 6 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.