By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

PORTSMOUTH — Matt Aliff tried his best to get the Portsmouth Trojans arrested for loitering.

Aliff stranded nine baserunners as he pitched the Fairland Dragons to a 3-2 win over the Trojans on Tuesday.

Aliff struck out 10 while allowing seven hits and walking two. The Dragons were also guilty of three errors but Aliff was able to prevent the Trojans from any big scoring rallies.

“(Aliff) was able to pitch out of some jams. The key is that he throws strikes and any time you feel like you can eliminate the free passes, you feel like you’ve got a chance and can play a little bit of defense behind that,” said Fairland coach Bryan Ward.

Fairland (4-1) went up 1-0 in the first inning when Eric Riley singled and went to third on an a two-base error in the outfield. Kyle Raines followed with an RBI single.

Corey Barker his a sacrifice fly in the second inning to score Dillan Murphy and the lead was 2-0.

Portsmouth (1-3) got a run in the third inning on an RBI singled by Brandon Wedebrook, but Aliff struck out two straight batters to leave the bases loaded.

The Dragons then scored what proved to be the winning run in the fourth inning when Evan Russell hit a one-out double and pinch-runner Luke Phillips scored on a passed ball.

The Trojans got the run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Levi Porter.

Aliff again left the bases loaded

Fairland hosts Coal Grove Wednesday.

(Cody Leist of the Portsmouth Daily Times provided information for this report.)

Fairland 110 100 0 = 3 5 3

Portsmouth 001 100 0 = 2 7 2

WP-Matt Aliff (K-10, BB-2). LP-Grashel (K-2, BB-1). 2B-Fairland: Josh Ross, Evan Russell; Portsmouth: Levi Porter. Hitting-Fairland: Eric Riley 1-3, Kyle Raines 1-3 rbi, Josh Ross 1-3, Dillan Murphy 1-3, Evan Russell 1-2; Portsmouth: Brandon Wedebrook 1-4, Jacob Albrecht 2-3, Levi Porter 3-3 rbi, Lattimore 1-3.