Another doubleheader split for Fairfield vs. Central Lee

DONNELLSON ? With baseballs flying off the bat Friday evening, the Fairfield baseball team out-dueled Central Lee from the plate in game one totaling 14 hits to take an 11-4 win in the opener.

Central Lee finished with nine hits as Dakota Simmons got the win for the Trojans, but Fairfield lost 6-5 in game two.

A seven-run third inning gave Simmons all the offense he needed in the first game. Lucas James, Cody Moran and Jake Dunbar all singled to leadoff the inning and load the bases. A Grant Liebe walk plated the first run to set up a two-RBI single from clean-up hitter Dylan Gilpin. A Corbin Harwood double scored two more to make the score 5-0 before Central Lee had even recorded one out. Travis Schombert singled two batters later to score Brandon Veirs and Harwood to open up the 7-0 lead.

Central Lee could only muster one run in the bottom half of the inning and another Fairfield burst in the top half of the fifth put the game away. Harwood led off the inning with a solo home run on the first pitch he saw and another bases-loaded walk from Liebe made the score 10-1.

Simmons allowed nine hits in six innings of work and the defense committed four errors, but the sophomore stopped the bleeding on multiple occasions to allow just four Hawk runs.

?Dakota Simmons had the mentality of a bulldog on the mound. He was able to shake off the errors made behind him and make a pitch to get us out of innings,? said Fairfield head coach Josh Allison.

Central Lee outhit Fairfield 9-5 in game two and squeaked past with a 6-5 victory to split the doubleheader despite six errors.

Down 5-3 entering the final inning, Harwood hit a two out double followed by a game tying two-run home run from Veirs. Central Lee answered right back in the bottom half of the inning however, and didn?t waste any time doing it as Jordan Hawk led off with a double. Shoulder problems had kept Veirs off the mound for a few years, but he was back out there Friday to pitch the final three innings in relief.

With Veirs on the hill, Hawk stole third base before a strikeout and two intentional walks loaded the bases with one out. With the game-winning run 90 feet away, Andrew Krehbiel singled to score Hawks and put a tally in Fairfield?s loss column.

While the hits didn?t come as easy for the Trojans as they did in game one, Allison is starting to like what he sees from his team as they step into the batter?s box.

?Once again our offensive approach was on target and we had guys taking good swings on their pitch,? he said. ?In game one, our hard hit balls were finding gaps, but in game two, we were hitting it right at them. We also did a good job of battling back in that second game, and I think we found a little bit of mental toughness.?

Liebe drove in Dunbar and Gilpin scored Liebe as part of a two-run first inning to give Fairfield an early lead. Justin Leonard?s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning plated Veirs to complete the Trojan scoring.

Set to defend their 2008 conference title, Fairfield will head to Fort Madison tonight for the Southeast Conference opener set to begin at 5:30 p.m.