Washington hits around Fairfield for SEC win

WASHINGTON ? Washington head baseball coach Nathan Miller has been preaching to his players to hit the first good pitch they see and not wait for strike one.

His Demons did just that last night, belting four hits and scoring three runs in the first inning of the first game of a Southeast Conference doubleheader with Fairfield. Washington went on to win the game 8-1.

Junior Anthony Ossman lined the first pitch he saw into right centerfield for a double. With one out, senior Kaleb Rich was hit by Willie Ghent?s pitch, and then junior Brad Weatherman singled to shallow left field to load the bases. Junior Jordan Gier followed with an RBI single, and then sophomore T.J. Rausch had a two-RBI single. After just 16 pitches from Ghent, the Demons led 3-0.

?Our focus for yesterday was to start early,? Miller said. ?I thought we did a nice job of that last night. In the first inning we had a leadoff double by Ossman on the very first pitch, and three of the first six batters were able to get a hit in the first two pitches.?

Although the Demon offense exploded for three runs in the bottom of the first inning, Miller said Washington built momentum in the top of the first, when Rich retired the Trojans in order.

?I thought it started with our efforts in the first inning,? Miller said. ?They have the leading hitter in the conference in Jake Dunbar, and we got him to fly out to center. Then Kaleb struck out the next guy. We got out of the inning in nine pitches, and that start was encouraging.?

Rich would get Dunbar out two more times, and he retired 18 of the 21 batters he faced. Fairfield?s Corbin Harwood and Tyler Cooksey hit back-to-back doubles in the second inning, with Cooksey driving in the Trojans? lone run, and senior Ryan Brewington got a single in the sixth. Those were the only Trojan baserunners in the contest.

?It seemed like all the ones we were hitting hard we hit right at them, and all the ones that they were hitting were finding grass,? Fairfield head coach Josh Allison said. ?Rich is a really good pitcher. He hit his spots and kept us off balance.?

Rich struck out eight Trojans and did not issue a walk.

?It starts off with strike one,? Miller said. ?As I look at the scorebook here, he was ahead in almost every count. He?s had a great couple weeks for us here on the hill. A complete-game three-hitter last night against Fairfield and a complete-game three-hitter against Fort Madison on Thursday.?

After Fairfield scored its lone run in the top of the second, the Demons answered with three more in the bottom of the frame. Redlinger and Ossman started things off with singles, and then a run scored when junior Josh Moore reached base on an error. Rich and Weatherman both drove in a run when they grounded out.

Washington (12-3, 6-1 SEC) tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning. Moore scored on a passed ball, and Gier had an RBI single to make it 8-1. Before the Trojans could come up to bat in the seventh inning, the game had its second rain delay. Rather than play the seventh inning, the two teams decided to prepare for the start of the second game of the doubleheader.

Fairfield (7-9, 3-2 SEC) grabbed an early lead in the second game on Harwood?s two-out RBI single in the top of the first inning. But Washington answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame. With the bases loaded, Gier smacked a two-RBI single to right field to make it 2-1.

The Demons added three more runs in the second. Redlinger scored on a balk, and then Rich hit a two-run home run, his third of the year and first since he hit two in a 13-2 win at Highland on June 9.

Fairfield scored a run in the third inning. With two outs, Ghent reached on an error and scored on Harwood?s double. Cooksey followed with a single, but pitcher Martin Ponce got out of the jam when junior catcher Brian Roder threw out a runner at second to end the inning.

?I really felt like Martin showed more toughness on the mound than he has all year,? Miller said. ?With runners on second and third with two outs, he was able to get out of that jam. He handled the adversity pretty well, and we were able to get out of the inning.?

With Washington leading 5-2 with two outs in the bottom of the third, the game was suspended. The game will be finished when the Demons travel to Fairfield for a doubleheader on July 8.