Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — On this sunny day, all the Fairland Dragons needed was some Raines.

Kyle Raines pitched a five-hitter and the Fairland Dragons beat the River Valley Raiders 11-4 in an Ohio Valley Conference win on Friday.

After giving up four runs in the first two innings, Raines held the Raiders to just one hit the rest of the game. He finished with nine strikeouts and five walks.

“Raines struggled early, but he settled down and threw pretty well after the first couple innings,” said Fairland coach Bryan Ward.

Down 4-0 heading into the bottom of the second, Fairland (3-2, 3-0) came to life and scored three runs.

Garrett Scheibelhood walked, Evan Russell singled and Kyle Sowards walked to load the bases. Matt Aliff singled home two runs and the relay throw was wild as the third run scored.

The Dragons took the lead with two runs in the third.

Brandon Burcham and Dylan Murphy walked to start the inning. A wild pitch send Burcham to third base and Murphy stole second. The two pulled off a double steal for the tying run.

Raines hit a screaming ground ball off the second baseman’s chest as a run scored.

“I was real worried after the Gallipolis game, but we settled down and played pretty well defensively and we settled down and hit the ball pretty well,” said Ward.

Fairland erupted with six runs in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach.

Phillips and Sowards singled and Sowards stole second. Aliff singled home a run and Burcham hit another hard shot in the infield as a run scored. Murphy walked and Raines squeezed home Burcham.

Raines was safe on the play and Russell singled home two more runs to cap the uprising.

River Valley 130 000 0 = 4 5 5

Fairland 032 600 x = 11 9 2

Nick Jeffers, Jo Jo Loyd (3) and Trey Farley. Kyle Raines and Garrett Scheibelhood. W-Raines (K-9, BB-5, ER-4). L-Jeffers (2, BB-4). Loyd R-6, H-5, K-05, BB-5. 2B-RV: Trey Farley, Timmy Kemper. Hitting-RV: Austin Davies 1-3 rbi, Trey Farley 2-3 rbi, Zach Crow 1-3, Timmy Kemper 1-2 rbi; Fairland: Kyle Sowards 1-3, Matt Aliff 2-4, Kyle Raines 1-3, Evan Russell 2-3, Luke Phillips 2-3, Collin Damron 1-1.