SOUTH POINT – There will be no showdowns.

Tuesday, May 01, 2001

SOUTH POINT – There will be no showdowns. There will be no down-to-the-wire race. The Ohio Valley Conference has its baseball champion.

The South Point Pointers have two more league games left, but they won’t be necessary after a 6-1 win over the Fairland Dragons Monday.

Coupled with Coal Grove’s 8-5 loss to Chesapeake, the Pointers clinched the OVC championship.

"Winning the conference was our goal, and the kids really worked hard to get it. They’ve played well all year," Pointers coach Bob Lester said.

It marks the Pointers third straight league title. South Point is now 15-6 overall and 9-1 in the OVC. Fairland slips to 13-5 and 4-5 in the league.

Brian Cremeans went the distance to get the win. He limited Fairland to five hits, struckout eight and walked one. Stuart Shepherd and six strikeouts and one walk in suffering the loss.

"Cremeans did a nice job.," Fairland coach Roger Snyder said. "It was a good ball game until the sixth. We gave up four unearned runs and that was the ball game. Shepherd pitched pretty good except for one inning."

South Point took a 1-0 lead in the second when Jamie Douglas doubled to lead off the inning and came around to score when a passed ball went into the dugout.

Fairland got a run in the fourth. Chris Hardy singled, stole second, went to third on a passed ball, and scored when J. W. Jones grounded out.

But South Point got the run back in the bottom of the inning.

Cremeans singled but was forced by Shane Holsinger. Douglas singled and J. D. Sullivan hit a sacrifice fly.

The Pointers then broke the game open with four runs in the fifth.

With one out, Nick Clay and Jarred Perdue singled. Cremeans hit a high chopper behind the mound that was thrown away at third allowing a run to score. Holsinger then grounded out as a run scored.

Cremeans scored on a hit by Douglas, and Justin Eaches singled to send Douglas to third where he scored on a wild pitch.

Douglas was 3-for-3 with a double, Brandon Primm and Nick Clay were 2-for-3. Jarod Schneider went 2-for-3 for the Dragons.

The Pointers are at Russell, Ky., Tuesday and host Lucasville Valley Friday in the Division III sectional tournament. The Dragons play at Coal Grove Wednesday and host Rock Hill Friday in league games.

Fairland 000 100 0 – 1 5 1

South Point 010 140 x – 6 10 0

Stuart Shepherd, Josh Dunfee (5) and Jarod Schneider. Brian Cremeans and Nick Clay. W-Cremeans (8-K, 1-W). L-Shepherd (6-K, 1-W). 2B-Fairland: Jarod Schneider, J. W. Jones; South Point: Jamie Douglas. Hitting-Fairland: Toby Morrison 1-3, Chris Hardy 1-3, J. W. Jones 1-3, Jarod Schneider 2-3; South Point: Jarred Perdue 1-4, Brian Cremeans 1-4, Jamie Douglas 3-3, Justin Eaches 1-2, Primm 2-3, Nick Clay 2-3.