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Trojan baseball drops 2
Fairfield nearly knocks off Burlington, falls by 3 against Central Lee
FAIRFIELD — Fairfield had Burlington’s backs against the wall during a Southeast Conference battle on Thursday night. The Trojans led by four runs against the SEC-leading Grayhounds, but Burlington escaped Fairfield with a two-run victory.
Burlington knocked off Fairfield 7-5 to stay unscathed in league play. The Trojans fell 5-2 against Central Lee one night later.
Fairfield scored one run in the first inning and then loaded the bases in the second, which led to three more runs.
Up 4-0 in the top of the fourth, Fairfield’s defense gave way with a couple of errors. Burlington capitalized, scoring four to tie it at 4-4.
The Grayhounds added three runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-4 lead. Fairfield put up one in the bottom of the fifth but could never tie the game back up.
“Early in the season we had a lot more mental mistakes,” said Fairfield head coach Josh Allison. “We're eliminating those, but we have that one half an inning every game that is coming back to get us.”
Despite the loss, Caden Allison had a nice outing, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Tate Allen and Dain Burkhart each knocked in two runs. Aiden Westercamp and Isaac Harris each finished with two hits.
Burkhart started the game on the mound for Fairfield, giving up seven runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks. Isaac Harris threw three shutout innings in relief.
The Trojans got off to a rough start the Central Lee game. The Hawks put up three runs in the first inning, and the Trojans could never get it tied back up.
Fairfield cut the lead down to 3-1 after two innings and 4-2 after three, but that’s all the Trojans would get offensively.
Fairfield collected just four hits on the day. Westercamp went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Bates was 1-for-2 with an RBI, and both Tate Allen and Cody Birlson had hits.
Bates and Aidan Krueter split time almost evenly on the mound. Both gave up just one earned run, but the Hawks scored three unearned on Bates, who was tagged with the loss.
The Trojans are now 6-11 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. They will host Washignton (3-8, 3-3) on Monday.
