Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

COAL GROVE — The Coal Grove Hornets seem to do their best work once they get behind.
The Hornets erased a seven-run deficit as they rallied to beat the Fairland Dragons 13-11 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Wednesday.
“Our guys responded today. The last three or four innings, we put it together. We’ve done this several times when we came back from deficits. I’ll give our kids credit,” said Hornets’ coach Dean Mader.
Fairland led 10-3 in the top of the fifth but Coal Grove (6-2, 4-2) erupted for 10 runs in the bottom of the inning.
With one out, Sam Angelo and Jeb Jones singled and Darin Bloomfield walked. Ben Compliment and Evan Gannon both reached on errors. Zack Landers was safe on an error for a run and Nate Harmon singled for a run.
Tait Matney and Jordan Case both reached on errors for runs. Angelo singled for an RBI, Jones hit a sacrifice fly, Bloomfield walked and Angelo scored on a wild pitch.
“It was a tough loss. We were playing well until the fifth inning. We could not make that one defensive play to stop the momentum,” said Fairland coach Alex Beelen.
Coal Grove took advantage of 10 Fairland errors to go with seven hits.
Angelo was 3-4 with a double and an RBI to lead the offense.
Gavin Hunt, Eli Bowen and Garrett Looney were 2-5 as Fairland had nine hits.
The teams meet at Fairland on Friday.
Fairland    013    330    1    =    11    9    10
Coal Grove    210    0(10)0    x    =    13    7    7
Garrett Looney, Dacoda Chapman (5) and Eli Bowen. Nate Harmon, Alijah Roman (5) and Jeb Jones, Ben Compliment (3). W-Roman (IP-2.2, H-1, R-1, ER-1, K-1, BB-4). Harmon (IP-4.1, H-8, R-10, ER-2, K-6, BB-4).  L-Looney (IP-4.1, H-6, R-12, ER-2, K-4, BB-2). Chapman (IP-1.2, H-1, R-1, ER-1, K-1, BB-1). Hitting-FHS: Gavin Hunt 2-5 2B 3-rbi, Eli Bowen 2-5 2-rbi, Darius Stapleton rbi, Garrett Looney 2-5 rbi, Tucker Adkins 1-3 3-rbi, Kyle Rankin 1-3, Dacoda Chapman 1-3 rbi; CG: Jordan Case 1-3 2-rbi, Sam Angelo 3-4 2B rbi, Jeb Jones 1-3 3-rbi, Ben Compliment rbi, Evan Gannon rbi, Zack Landers 1-4 rbi, Nate Harmon 1-4 rbi, Tait Matney rbi.