Harwood lifts Trojans to conference sweep

WASHINGTON, Iowa ? Fairfield?s bats came alive in Monday?s Southeast Conference doubleheader at Washington, as the Trojans scored 24 runs on 27 hits in a doubleheader sweep of the Demons at Dick Sojka Memorial Field. Fairfield won the opening game 11-0 in five innings and then rallied for a 13-7 win in the nightcap.

?This was the kind of game we?ve been looking for, for the sticks to come alive,? Fairfield head coach Josh Allison said. ?Up to this point, we hadn?t been hitting well, but we had been inching closer to actually getting to where we had a lot of guys swinging well. We?ve been working deep in counts and hitting well in batting practice, so I thought maybe it was going to happen. I didn?t know it would happen tonight, but I figured eventually it was going to.?

Fairfield sophomore Austin Gridley hit an RBI single in the first inning of the opening game. Corbin Harwood hit a solo home run, the first of four round-trippers on the night for the senior, in the third inning, and Gridley hit a two-run shot two batters later to put the Trojans up 4-0. Fairfield broke the game open in the fourth, as Harwood hit a three-run homer, sophomore Joseph Hietpas hit a two-RBI double and sophomore Kooper Dahlstrom scored on a wild pitch. Junior Josh Dimmitt added an RBI single in the fifth to put Fairfield up 11-0.

Meanwhile, Hietpas allowed just one hit over five innings, striking out 10 batters without issuing a walk.

Senior Colin Steele got the only hit for the Demons. Washington head coach Nathan Miller said it was frustrating that 10 of the 16 batters that walked to the plate went down on strikes.

?We just were not competitive at the plate,? he said. ?I think we struck out six out of 10 times looking. That has to do more with mental competitiveness.?

The Demons tried to battle back in the second game. Fairfield scored three runs in the top of the first inning on a Harwood homer and a two-RBI single by Gridley, but Washington came back to take the lead. Sophomore Jacob Green hit an RBI double in the second inning, and the Demons added four runs in the third thanks to two Fairfield errors.

Harwood hit a solo homer and Dahlstrom hit an RBI single to tie the score 5-5 in the top of the fourth, but Washington junior Kyle Roder scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the frame. A sacrifice fly by sophomore Mason Ellis tied the game again in the top of the fifth, and then senior Brent Buch and junior Spencer Peterman had RBI hits in the sixth to give the Trojans the lead for good.

?We had that one really bad inning where I think all four of those runs were unearned,? Allison said. ?In that inning we had a couple of errors and a couple of passed balls that didn?t help things. But the boys showed some resiliency and didn?t let that affect the rest of the game.?

Harwood had an outstanding night at the plate for the Trojans (6-11, 4-4 SEC), going 7-for-7 with four home runs and six RBIs. Gridley was 5-for-9 with a double, a home run and six RBIs. Buch went 4-for-7 and drove in two runs.

Washington lost its third straight to fall to 8-8 overall and 3-5 in the conference.

?It?s a team that just has to get over a mental block right now,? Miller said. ?This team has the physical ability to play with any team on any given night. We just have to get these 17 boys over this mental block right now. It?s 100 percent mental. It?s nothing physical. Our guys are playing hard.?

Fairfield is off until an away game Wednesday against Burlington Notre Dame.