FAIRVIEW – Offense was really tough to come by for both sides early on, but Fairview scored in the third and the sixth, and held off a last-inning rally by the Arab Knights to win, 5-3, on a cold Friday night at Fairview.
It was a pitcher's duel early on between Arab's John Michael Boles and Fairview's Tyler Ball as they each retired the other side in the first two innings. Ball recorded three strikeouts through the first two innings.
Arab put their first base runner on in the third inning as Tyler Ryan drew a leadoff walk, but Ball got out of the inning without any problems. The Aggies looked to get their pitcher some run support in their half, and Logan Murphee got them started with a bloop single into right field. He moved to second on a groundout by Brett Garner. Derek Jones hit a ground ball to Cole McBride at third, and he threw it over Preston Davis's head for an error, which allowed Murphee to score and gave Fairview a 1-0 lead, and it also allowed Jones to move to second. Ragan Ashley then hit a single to right field, moving Jones to third with just one out. Lane Schnittker drove in Jones with an RBI single and Preston Moore added a sacrifice fly to drive home Scoot Bennett, the courtesy runner for Ashley, to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead after three.
Arab started a rally of their own in the top of the fourth. Hudson got it started as he reached on a one-out infield single on the first pitch for the first hit of the game, then Judd Holmes lined a double to right center, putting runners on second and third with only one out. But Ball was able to get out of the inning without any damage, as he got Dalton Maze to strike out on three straight pitches, then got Drew Laney to hit a ground ball right back to him.
Each pitcher settled down after that as only two runners reached for both teams, until the top of the sixth, when McBride led off with a line drive single into center field, then Hudson reached on an infield single. Holmes drove home McBride with an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1, as Holmes advanced to second on the throw. Maze, on the first pitch, cut the lead to just one with an RBI single of his own, and then Laney tied the game with an RBI double on a 1-0 pitch. After throwing the first pitch for a ball to Ryan, Ball was relieved by Matthew Holmes, who looked to keep the game tied. Ball took over at first base for Garner. Holmes walked Ryan to load the bases for Davis. Holmes struck him out, then he got Justin Allensworth to pop out to Moore for the second out. Ashley picked Ryan off of first to end the inning and helped Holmes get out of a based-loaded, no-out jam.
Fairview looked to break the tie in their half. Schnittker hit a double that glanced off the glove of Russell Brazelton. Moore then got hit by the pitch to put runners on first and second. Truman Boyd then sacrificed them both over to third and second, respectively, to bring Ball at the plate with an RBI opportunity in front of them, and he delivered, blooping an RBI single over Hudson's head, driving home Schnittker to give Fairview a 4-3 lead, and the lead was increased to 5-3 when Moore scored on a wild pitch, which was the score after six.
Arab looked for one last rally in the top of the seventh. Brazelton lined a double to right-center to start off the inning for the Knights, then after McBride popped out for the first out, Hudson hit a ground ball to Jones, whose throw pulled Ball's foot off the base for an error, putting runners on first and second with one out. Then came the play of the game. Holmes hit a line drive to Jones, who caught it, and then threw to first to double off Hudson to end the game.
Ball went five innings, allowing eight hits, three runs, walking one and striking out six to get the win for Fairview, who improves their record to 4-2 on the season. He also went 1-of-3 with an RBI single. Holmes went the final two innings, giving up just one hit, no runs, walking one and striking out one. Schnittker went 2-of-3 with an RBI, a single and a double. Moore had an RBI. Ashley added a single in the game. They will travel to Brewer tomorrow.
Boles went five full innings, gave up four hits, three runs, two of them earned, walked one and struck out one. Ramsey went one, allowed a hit, a run, walked none, struck out two, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter. Hudson went 2-of-4 with two singles. Holmes also went 2-of-4 with an RBI, a single and a double. Maze and Laney each had an RBI and a hit. McBride, Ryan and Brazelton each had a hit for Arab, who dropped their first game of the season tonight to fall to 4-1. They will head back home tomorrow to play a doubleheader against Alexandria and Hazel Green.
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