PROCTORVILLE - Things are tightening up in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Thanks to the three-hit pitching performance of Michael Hill, the Fairland Dragons beat the South Point Pointers 7-1 Monday to draw within one-half game of the league lead.

Fairland is now 10-3 on the season and 5-2 in the OVC. South Point is 7-7 and 5-1 in the league. Chesapeake, which did not play Monday, also has just one league loss.

The Dragons host Coal Grove Wednesday and visit Rock Hill on Friday.

"Every game this week is do or die for us. We'll see how we handle it," Fairland coach Roger Snyder said.

The Dragons handled the pressure well against the Pointers thanks to Hill, who struck out 10 and walked four in going the distance.

"Michael threw the ball pretty well," Snyder said.

Fairland went up 2-0 in the first inning when Hill walked and Cory McKnight crunched a two-run homer.

The Dragons added a run in the second to lead 3-0. Tyler Bowman was safe on an error, went to third on another error and came home when Hill grounded out.

South Point got within 3-1 in the top of the third inning.

Zane Joy was safe on an error, went to second on a ground out, took third on a passed ball and then scored when Wes Patterson grounded out.

But Fairland got that run back when Matt Clark hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning.

Fairland put the game away with three runs in the fifth inning.

Zacc Russell singled, Clark doubled, and Adam Fuller walked to load the bases. Bowman squeezed home a run, Nick Zundel had an infield hit as a run scored. Then Hill hit a sacrifice fly.

Russell went 3-4 and Clark 2-3 to lead Fairland's nine-hit attack.

Seth Craft, Dale Kinney and Tyler Staton had the three South Point hits.

South Point hosts Huntington, W.Va. Tuesday.

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Tyler Staton, Justin Smith (2), Adam McCarty (5) and Dale Kinney. Mike Hill and Adam Fuller. W-Hill (10-K, 4-W). L-Staton. 2B-South Point: Tyler Staton; Fairland: Zacc Russell, Matt Clark. HR-Fairland: Cory McKnight, Matt Clark. Hitting-South Point: Seth Craft 1-3, Dale Kinney 1-2, Tyler Staton 1-3; Fairland: Cory McKnight 1-2, Zacc Russell 3-4, Matt Clark 2-3, Adam Fuller 1-2, Tyler Bowman 1-3, Nick Zundel 1-2.