By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — It was a battle for the lead in the Ohio Valley Conference race and the leader is….

The Fairalnd dragons used the 5-hit pitching of Brycen Hunt and some clutch hitting to edge the Portsmouth Trojans 3-1 on Friday and took over the OVC lead.

Fairland is now 5-9 over all and 5-1 in the OVC. Portsmouth is 9-4 and 6-2 in the league.

Fairland scored all its runs in the fourth inning with one out.

Alex Morgan walked, Ethan Wall singled him to third and stole second to put both runners in scoring position.

Garrett Cornwell then singled home both runners, moved up on a ground out and came home on a hit by Ben Southard.

Portsmouth got its run in the fifth inning when Preston Krebs doubled and Camron. Williams got a 2-out single.

Hunt went the distance and struck out 12, walked 2 and allowed the one earned run.

Portsmouth’s Trevin Brooks gave up only 3 hits — all in the fourth inning — along with 3 earned runs and he struck out 5 and walked 5.

Southard was 1-2 with an RBI, Cornwell 1-3 with 2 RBI and Wall 1-2.

Camron Williams, J.T. Williams, Brooks and Krebs all went 1-3 and Malachi Loper 1-2. Camron Williams had the RBI and Krebs a double.

Portsmouth 000 010 0 = 1 5 3

Fairland    000 300 x = 3 3 1

Trevin Brooks and Camron Williams. Brycen Hunt and Cyrus Cummings. W-Hunt (IP-7.0, H-5, R-1, ER-1, K-12, BB-2). L-Brooks (IP-6.0, H-3, R-3, ER-3, K-5, BB-5). Hitting-Portsmouth: C.J. Williams 1-3 RBI, J. T. Williams 1-3, Trevin Brooks 1-3, Preston Krebs 1-3 2B, Malachi Loper 1-2; Fairland: Ethan Wall 1-2, Garrett Cornwell 1-3 2-RBI, Ben Southard 1-2 RBI.