Fairfield slips past Demons

After severe thunderstorms postponed the Demons and Trojans? doubleheader to Tuesday, the teams showed no signs that it affected them, but Washington fell to Fairfield in both games 5-1, 3-1.

The Demons picked up five hits in game one and got an RBI from junior Michael Ellingson, but the offense could not get a rally together against Fairfield?s Nick Jackson. The righty pitched 3 2/3 innings and struck out five demons to pick up a save for Tristan Ledger, who started the ballgame on Monday.

?We?ve got to make our own breaks a little bit,? said head coach Nathan Miller. ?I was very pleased with the way our kids competed really well. Our pitchers threw really well; [Tanner] Coleman held them to three hits over the last four innings.

?We can hang our hats on these two pitching performances as a positive.?

When Coleman inherited the game from Michael Gier, it was 4-1 in Fairfield?s advantage. Almost all the offense came in Monday?s two innings, as only one run was scored in Tuesday?s portion of game one.

Gier took the loss, dropping to 2-2 on the season. Tristan Ledger earned his first win of the season for Fairfield.

The underclassmen stole the show on the mound in game two, as a pitcher?s duel between sophomore Collin Zear and Fairfield freshman Graham Kuehl were baffling batters all game long.

Zear held the Trojans hitless in five of his six innings pitched, but found himself in a hole early. After hitting Nerendra Martin with a pitch to start the game, Martin stole second and advanced to third on Alex Crile?s groundout to second. Zear hit Jordan Reid with a curveball that just didn?t break enough, and found he was looking at runners on first and third with nobody out, with no hits allowed.

Zear got Cameron Baumann to fly out to center. A wild pitch allowed Reid to break for second and Martin scored on the subsequent throw down from catcher Bryce Craff, giving Fairfield a 1-0 lead.

The Demons went one-two-three in their half of the first. Hit batters came back to haunt Zear again in the second inning, as Brandon Smithburg stole second and scored on an error, making it 2-0 Trojans.

Washington responded in the third inning. A leadoff single from Ellingson and a sacrifice bunt from Craff put a runner in scoring position with only one out. Michael Gier followed with a triple to the wall in right field, despite a fantastic diving effort from Jackson, who crashed into the wall. Jackson would remain in the game and the score was 2-1 Fairfield.

Senior Blake Weidman smacked one on the ground to third, and Trojan third baseman Reid caught Gier too far off the bag and threw home. He was retired on a nice throw back to Reid for the second out of the inning. The scoring threat ended with a Ryan Loy flyout to left.

Zear retired the Trojans? one-two-three in the third and fourth innings, efficiently throwing only six pitches in the latter.

?I was hitting my spots really well,? said Zear. ?I hit two people on curves in the first inning, but I fixed it and fixed my spot and threw a lot better. I was excited today; I felt a lot better today than I did [Monday].?

Washington?s best chance to score came in the fourth inning. Dakota Kron drove a ball toward right field and reached first on a single. Jackson attempted to make a diving catch but couldn?t hang on, so Kron took off for second. The Trojan right fielder recovered and threw a strike to nail Kron at second and erase the leadoff hit before it became a real issue. With two out, Zear singled and found himself standing on second base after Aaron Vittetoe was hit by a pitch, but Ellingson grounded out to third to end the inning.

In trouble in the fifth, Zear gave up a single to Cayden Lisk and walked Jackson. A pickoff throw to first caught the baserunner napping in a rundown between first and second. Some hesitation from Lisk and a solid throw from Zear to Craff got Washington the out they needed. However, Crile would smack a double to center to score Jackson from second.

From then on, Washington would get three more hits, one from Zear and two from leadoff man Craff, and the game would end with Fairfield winning 3-1.

Next up for the Demons, they?ll hit the road and face Keokuk tomorrow.