SHADYSIDE’S COLLIN Holmes waits for a throw as Barton’s Aaron Marovich steals second during Tuesday night’s Ohio Valley Baseball League game on Henning Field inside Pramesa Park.

CRESCENT — Defending Ohio Valley Baseball League champion Barton has been playing in a funk so far this summer. Tuesday night was no exception, but the end result is all veteran manager Billy Timko cares about.

No-hit for five innings, the Braves (4-4) recorded only two safeties but rallied for a 3-2 victory over a much-improved Shadyside (0-12) squad on Henning Field inside Pramesa Park.

“I hope this snaps us out of this spell we’ve been in. There was no flow to the game tonight. It was kind of dry,” Timko said. “We just haven’t been hitting the ball like we are capable of, but we keep battling and battling.

“We lucked out you could say. They (Shadyside) played one heckuva game,” Timko added. “Their guy pitched a great game. We weren’t hitting him.”

Deadlocked at two with Isaac Rine at third and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Kaden Blomquist lifted a major-league popup behind short that fell untouched to complete the comeback from a 2-0 deficit. Rine reached second to open the inning when his flyball to right was misplayed. He stole third with two outs.

“That’s baseball for you. Not everybody is perfect and not everything goes your way,” Shadyside player/assistant manager Collin Holmes said. “That’s why you play the game.”

Barton actually trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth against former Martins Ferry product Dom Wallace. The righty struck out seven and walked five, but only allowed three balls to be hit out of the infield.

“My gosh,” Holmes said of Wallace’s outing. “We couldn’t have asked any more from him. We had his back the whole game. He was letting them hit the ball and we played pretty good defense behind him.”

However, Austin Bassa and Kaden Blomquist drew back-to-back walks to start the sixth. A wild pitch advanced both runners 90 feet before Bailey McGrath lined a 2-2 pitch to right-center that drew the hosts even.

Another Purple Rider product, Drake Dobson, fanned nine and didn’t walk a batter in four innings on the hill for the Braves. He threw 78 pitches (52) strikes and scattered three hits.

“Drake did a good job and kept us in the game,” Timko said. “Matt (Fouty) came in and did what we asked of him.”

Fouty picked up the win with three relief frames. He struck out four and yielded just one hit.

The Casketmakers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on Ryan Florence’s RBI single. They made it 2-0 two innings later when Florence drilled a double to deep center that chased in Adam Och. It was only the second time this season that Shadyside had the lead in a game.

Barton is back in action tonight at Weirton in a re-match of last year’s championship series. First pitch is at 6 on Edwin J. Bowman Field. Shadyside is idle until Friday when it travels to Moundsville to face the first-place Expos.