Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

COAL GROVE — The Coal Grove Hornets were good. The Fairland Dragons were just better.

The Dragons were able to make more plays as they beat the Hornets 7-3 Monday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We didn’t play bad. We hit the ball and we had runners on but hit the ball in play right at somebody,” said Hornets’ coach Dean Mader.

“But give Fairland credit. They got some good pitching and they got the hits when they needed them. They did the things you need to win.”

Fairland took a 1-0 lead in the first when Kyle Sowards reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch.

The Dragons made it 3-0 in the top of the second.

Dylan Murphy walked, was sacrificed to second and came around to score on a passed ball and a wild pitch. Adam Taylor walked, moved around on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Garrett Scheibelhood.

Coal Grove (7-4, 4-2) tied the game in the bottom of the inning.

Travis Carey walked, Chase McKnight reached on an error and a passed ball scored Carey. Sean Paulus singled in a run, stole second and scored on a passed ball.

Fairland went ahead for good with a run in the fourth.

Brandon Burcham singled, moved up on a passed ball and scored on Sowards’ base hit.

A run scored in the fifth to make it 5-3 when Damron singled, went to second on a balk and scored on a hit by Burcham.

Two insurance runs scored in the sixth.

Brett Curry singled, Scheibelhood walked, Robert Thompson sacrificed the runners up a base, a wild pitch scored a run and a ground out scored the second run.

Nance and Markins each went 2-3 for the Hornets.

Coal Grove plays at Chesapeake on Wednesday.

Fairland 120 112 0 = 7 7 3

Coal Grove 030 000 0 = 3 7 2

Collin Damron, Adam Taylor (6) and Garrett Scheibelhood. Rutherford 5.1 Markins 1.2 and Jesse Rigsby. W-Damron (IP-5, K-4, BB-41, H-5). Taylor (IP-2, K-2, BB-0 H-2). L-Rutherford (IP-5.1, K-3, BB-5, H-5). Markins (IP-1.2, K-1, BB-1, H-2). Hitting-Fairland: Kyle Sowards 1-3 rbi, Collin Damron 1-3, Dylan Murphy 1-3, Brandon Burcham 2-2 rbi, Brett Curry 1-1, Garrett Scheibelhood 1-2 rbi; CG: Mason Nance 2-3, Jesse Rigsby 1-4, Conor Markins 2-3, Daniel Rutherford 1-4, Sean Paulus 1-3 rbi. 2B-Fairland: Dylan Murphy.