Trojans quiet Panther roar with Monday SEC split

Putting improvement on full display Monday night, the Fairfield baseball team rebounded from two losses to Mount Pleasant earlier this season with a doubleheader split and ruined the Panthers? undefeated conference mark in the process.

Monday may have even been better served as a preview for a potential second round match up in the district tournament scheduled next week as the Trojans scored four runs early and withstood a late rally from tenth-ranked Mount Pleasant to snag a 4-3 victory in game one before the Panthers rebounded with a 7-2 win in the nightcap.

?Game one was a big win for us, and we had several guys come up with some big hits and great base running,? said Fairfield head coach Josh Allison. ?All-around, we played very well in that first game.?

Fairfield moved runners around in the first inning and picked up the big hit they needed ? namely Dylan Gilpin picked up the big hit. Gilpin?s two-out single scored Jake Dunbar from third base to get Fairfield on the board early. Jerred Leonard singled in Gilpin two pitches later to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead after one. Two more runs in the bottom of the third inning gave Fairfield a 4-0 lead before Gilpin had even surrendered a hit to the Panthers.

Gilpin?s no-hitter was spoiled by Mason Donnolly?s single in the fourth inning and the shutout soon followed as Donnolly plated Mount Pleasant?s first run of the game in the fifth following Cody Vaughn?s RBI single. Donnolly was once again a thorn in Gilpin?s side in the sixth as he drove in Blake Heitmeier to cut the lead down to 4-2. A wild pitch scored Braden Shull, but Gilpin delivered when it was needed forcing a Vaughn inning-ending fly out with two more runners in scoring position.

Gilpin then struck out two in the top of the seventh to preserve the victory for Fairfield.

In game two, it was Mount Pleasant that jumped on the scoreboard early as Shull ripped an RBI single to cap a two-run first inning. The Panthers then opened up a 5-0 lead with five more hits and three more runs in the third.

While the Panther offense finally hit its groove, Cameron Engberg kept the Trojans in check with a solid performance on the mound. Engberg scattered eight hits over his seven innings, allowing just two third-inning runs before locking down the rest of the way. A Grant Liebe double in that third inning scored Leonard, but with just one out down, Liebe was stranded at second base ? one of many jams Engberg fought out of.

?We definitely had some opportunities in the second game but just didn?t get it done,? Allison said. ?We gave them four extra outs and left a lot of runners on base.?

One of those times came when Fairfield loaded the bases in the fourth ? putting the tying run on first base with just one out. But Engberg relied on a stout defense behind him to end the threat. The Panthers added two more runs for insurance and Engberg allowed just one base runner the rest of the way to secure the split.

?It would have been great to get a sweep against a ranked opponent, but this doubleheader helps us to see what we are capable of when we play clean baseball ? and what happens on the other side of it as well,? said Allison. ?Obviously, our goal is to play great defense coming up through the end of the regular season and into the post-season. Our post-season success will depend a lot on how well we are able to play defense.?

Mount Pleasant is still in the driver?s seat for the conference championship, but a post season battle between the two teams figures to be in the future. Fairfield will wrap up the SEC season Thursday at Washington.