PARKERSBURG — A pair of lightning delays, the second one just 17 minutes long, didn’t phase host Parkersburg South here Tuesday evening at Hank Greenburg Field as the Patriots swept the regular season series from rival Parkersburg following an 8-3 victory. The Patriots of head man Todd Burner, who beat the Big Reds 4-1 back on April 5 at City Park, used a five-run bottom of the fifth to break open what was a 3-2 affair. South’s Chase Dunbar, who walked a trio, allowed three earned runs and whiffed nine, had a chance for the complete game, but he plunked Nathan Lindenmuth. Out of pitches, the Patriots turned to Eli Reeves with the bases loaded and he earned the save after he got Jordan Batten to fly out to center fielder Drew Cochran. “He was out of pitches,” admitted Burner, whose 13-10 club plays at 5 p.m. today at Bridgeport. “He pitched good. “Even during the lightning delay I asked him if he wanted to go back out and he said he felt good. “We put the ball in play and we didn’t strike out that much (once). Another big thing was we kept the ball out of the air, which we’ve been hitting a lot of flyballs lately. We had some key hits too with runners on base.” The fateful fifth for the Big Reds, who dropped to 10-8 and play at Hurricane this evening, saw the Patriots send nine batters to the dish and it all started with a Blake McMullen single. After Cochran reached on an error, losing pitcher T.J. McIntosh was lifted for Jackson Wagner. He was greeted by a Jared Clemente RBI single, which rocketed just past Wagner’s glove and then bounced off the bag at second. Dunbar followed with a single just in front of Big Red center fielder Hayden Morris, who unleashed a laser to catcher Nolan Brace. Brace, who was celebrating his 18th birthday, made the catch and managed to tag Cochran for the first out. Grant Hussey followed with an RBI sacrifice fly. After Dustin Corley drew a free pass, Nathan Currey reached on a PHS throwing error as too did No. 9 hitter Colin Bryant. Lindenmuth opened the sixth with a single, but was left stranded. In the top of the seventh, Austin Curtis singled, Morris had a one-out single and the red and white got their final run via a Max Anderson run-scoring knock to center which plated Morris. “It was an even game other than that one inning and we had three errors,” said PHS skipper Alan Burns, whose club tied the game at two in the third when Curtis doubled and scored on Morris’ three-bagger with Morris scoring on a wild pitch. “That’s what hurt us. They scored five runs and that’s the difference in the game. “We told them you got to make things happen. They had a little bit of luck, but you got to make your own luck. They had the ball that hits the base there. They made things happen and we didn’t and we struck out nine times.” Currey’s fielder’s choice RBI plated Clemente for the Patriots’ first tally in the second. PSHS squared it at two in the last of the third when catcher Nick Yoho, who threw out Morris at second trying to steal in the first inning, singled and scored on Clemente’s RBI hit to right-center. Hussey scored the go-ahead run in the fourth. After reaching on a single and moving to third on a pair of wild pitches, he crossed on Corley’s opposite-field hit to left.