Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

There was plenty of scoring, but the two biggest numbers had Ironton coach Larry Goodwin shaking his head in amazement.

The Fairland Dragons held off Ironton 9-7 on Thursday despite the Fighting Tigers racking up 16 hits — all singles — and leaving 15 runners on base.

“We hit the ball well but we still didn’t get a lot of timely hits,” said Goodwin. “That seems crazy when you have 16 hits, but some of them were infield hits and you don’t drive in runs unless you have distance hits.”

Fairland (6-4) had eight hits with Dylan Murphy going 4-4 with a triple. Brandon Burcham was 2-3 with a double and Luke Phillips also doubled.

Mo Phillips had a big day for Ironton as he went 5-5. Aaron Stephens was 3-4, Derek Battise 3-5 and Korey Kellogg 2-3.

“We were able to get key hits and we were able to get the outs when we needed it,” said Fairland coach Bryan Ward.

The Dragons got foru runs in the first inning with the aid of a walk, two errors and Murphy’s RBI triple.

Ironton (1-4) got a run in the second when Phillips singled and scored on a throwing error.

Stephens, Battise and Phillips singled for a run in the third but Ironton left the bases loaded.

Phillips’ RBI doubled in a run in the fourth to make it 5-2. Ironton answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to get within 5-4.

Trevor Easterling walked, Stephens singled and Battise singled off the fence for a run. An outfield error scored the second run.

Fairland got a run in the fifth when Burcham walked, Murphy singled and Adam Taylor reached on an error.

The lead went to 9-4 in the sixth on a walk, an error, Burcham’s RBI double and a run-scoring single by Murphy.

Stephens singled and scored on a hit by Phillips in the sixth and Ironton rallied in the seventh for two runs.

Kellogg singled, Stephens walked and Battise singled to load the bases with two outs. Sean Lawless singled for a run and Phillips beat out an infield hit for an RBI.

But reliever Matt Aliff got a strikeout to end the rally and save the win.

Ironton travels to Lewis County, Ky., on Friday. Fairland visits Gallipolis on Tuesday.

Fairland 400 113 0 = 9 8 3

Ironton 011 201 2 = 7 16 4

Collin Damron, Josh Ross (4), Matt Aliff (7) and Garrett Scheibelhood. Sean lawless and Mo Phillips. W- Ross (IP-3, K-1, BB-2, H-6, R-3,ER-3). Save-Aliff (IP-0.1, K-1, BB-0, H-2). L-Lawless (K-2, BB-5). 2B-Fairland: Brandon Burcham, Luke Phillips. 3B-Fairland: Dylan Murphy. Hitting-Fairland: Josh Ross 1-4, Brandon Burcham 2-3, Dylan Murphy 4-4, Luke Phillips 1-2; Ironton: Trevor Easterling 1-3, Aaron Stephens 3-4, Derek Battise 3-5, Sean Lawless 1-4, Mo Phillips 5-5, Trevor White 1-3, Korey Kellogg 2-3.