Fairfield baseball team eliminated

DEWITT — The Fairfield baseball team couldn’t find enough run support in its Class 3A Substate 4 quarterfinal at Central DeWitt on Friday night, falling 11-1 in six innings.

Fairfield took a short-lived 1-0 lead in the game, scoring in the top of the first. Dylan Hunter reached on a one-out walk, and two at-bats later, Brad Smithburg knocked him in on a sacrifice bunt to give the Trojans some early momentum.

Unfortunately, that’s all the Trojans would get.

Central DeWitt’s Boomer Johnson settled in and kept Fairfield off the scoreboard for the rest of the game. He struck out eight batters and gave up just three hits.

Meanwhile, the Central DeWitt offense got off to a huge start, scoring four runs off of Trojan starter Tate Allen. The Sabres led 4-1 after one frame and never trailed again.

After Fairfield stranded two in the top of the second, Central DeWitt added one more in the fifth. That chased Allen out of the game, forcing the Trojans to turn to relief pitching for the rest of the night.

The Trojan pitching staff was able to keep it a four-run game until the bottom of the sixth, when Central DeWitt strung together six runs to end the game one inning early.

Fairfield’s three hits were all singles. Brad Smithburg finished the night 1-for-2 with an RBI. Nate Smithburg was 1-for-2 and also drew a walk, and Nate Woodburn went 1-for-3.

Allen gave up five runs (three earned) in 1 1/3 innings of work. Brad Woodburn gave up three runs (one earned) over 3 1/3 innings, and Brad Smithburg allowed three unearned in 2/3 innings of work.

Fairfield’s season ended at 11-18. Central DeWitt moved on to play at Fort Madison in the substate semifinals on Monday night.