Washington, Fairfield each win 1 in baseball doubleheader

WASHINGTON — The Demons found the mental part of a baseball game can be more important than the physical. The Trojans found some oil for a squeaky wheel, but other squeaks showed up.

Monday at Dick Sojka Memorial field, Washington won a 5-4 Southeast Conference game with two seventh-inning runs, but dropped the second game by a 13-3 margin to Fairfield.

“Multiple errors in the same inning is bad and causes a lot of stress for a pitcher and that has been our Achilles' heel,” Fairfield coach Josh Allison said. “We fixed some things that needed work and now other things show up.”

“The first game we found a way to win because we battled, and I was very pleased with that,” Washington coach Nathan Miller said. “The second game was us completely losing our mentality. When you give up six hits and lose 13-3, that’s a mental thing.“

Kole Williams came in during the second inning and went the distance for the Washington win.

“Williams did a tremendous job, with great plays defensively,” Miller said. “Reece (Mayer) had a couple hits and battled for us on the mound in the second game, but I tried to stretch him into the fifth. Our preseason mound work went great, but when the lights come on, we are tightening up.”

The nightcap was a 4-3 game until nine Fairfield runs in the fifth inning off four Demon pitchers. There were five hit batters, eight walks, a wild pitch and nine errors in Washington’s game.

In the opener, Connor Lyons threw a complete game for Fairfield with six strikeouts, two walks and six hits. Brad Smithburg threw six strikeouts with no walks for the second game win.

“Brad did an amazing job for us by being a great leader,” Allison said. “Connor is hitting his locations really well.”

Two pitchers, two complete games for Fairfield.

”It helped that Washington swings early in the count, and we pitch to contact so it keeps the pitch count low,“ Fairfield coach Josh Allison said. "The guys put some work in during the preseason, so I trust that they can go far.”

Brad Woodburn had two hits and batted in two Fairfield runs. Nate Woodburn went 2-for-3 the second game and batted in two runs.

Fairfield did a good job bouncing back from the loss by keeping its energy up. The Washington pitching woes certainly helped.

Fairfield is 5-9 overall and 3-5 in the SEC while Washington is 7-5, 4-4.