Fairfield falters against Pella

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield has been playing some good baseball as of late. Before their nightcap lost to Mt. Pleasant on Monday, the Trojans had won four straight.

Against Pella on Wednesday night in a non-conference bout, the Trojans suffered their second loss in a row this week, 11-5.

Fairfield bounced back from an early deficit in the game to take the lead, but the Trojans couldn’t hang on as defensive mistakes led to a handful of runs for the Dutch.

“We made too many mistakes,” Fairfield head coach Josh Allison said. “Not just physical mistakes, but some mental mistakes too. We didn’t execute plays that we should have been able to execute.”

Pella took control in the first few innings, scoring a pair spread between the first and second.

The Trojans couldn’t get anything going with the bats in their first two opportunities at the plate, as they went three up three down in two straight innings.

Pella did a great job of getting ahead in the count and continued to throw strikes, which is something Allison gave credit.

“They’ve got some good players,” Allison said. “We knew it was gonna be a good battle coming in. Their pitchers did an amazing job of getting strike one and hitting great locations with their first pitch.”

After a static two innings, Fairfield found a spark in the bottom of the third.

With one out, Tallon Bates drew a walk followed up by a Dylan Hunter single. At the top of the order, Cason Miller drew a walk to juice the bases. Connor Lyons then delivered with an RBI single to get the Trojans on the board, but they were not done there. Nate Smithburg then gave Fairfield the lead with two RBI single.

The Trojans had another big scoring opportunity in the inning with the bases loaded, but Pella was able to negate the damage as Fairfield left three runners on.

As quick as the Trojans took the lead, they lost it just as fast thanks to the Dutch.

“Every time we grabbed a little bit of that momentum, we just gave it right back to them,” Allison said. “You cant do that to yourself in that situation.”

Pella went on to scored five in the top of fourth off of a sac fly, RBI single, RBI double and two RBI single. The Dutch turned a one run deficit into a 7-3 advantage.

Fairfield didn’t go down quietly though, as it did some work itself in the bottom half of the inning.

Bates got on base with a walk and later scored off a wild pitch. Lyons then laid down the perfect bunt to put runners at the corners. After a pick off to first, Lyons got in a pickle but made it back safely to first. While the Dutch were worried about Lyons, Hunter — who hit a single with his at bat — was able to score from third to cut the lead to two, 7-5.

Despite the Trojans gaining momentum from the inning, it would be the last time they scored in the contest.

After a scoreless fifth, Pella dropped in four more runs to make it 11-5 and Fairfield could never find an answer as they only got two runners on base in the final two innings.

The Trojans had just five hits in the loss.

Lyons had a pair of hits and an RBI. Smithburg finished one hit and two RBIs. Hunter and Nate Woodburn also each had one hit.

Three Trojans pitch in the contest.

Bates started on the mound. He pitched 3.1 innings, gave up eight hits, seven runs (five earned) and one walk. Chandler Pumphrey relieved Bates. Pumphrey went 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and four runs (one inning). Hunter closed for the Trojans. He pitched 1.1 innings and had two strikeouts.

Fairfield took on Solon on Wednesday night. They will host a Southeast Conference game with Keokuk on Thursday.