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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington walks-off against Fairfield baseball
Demon’s Isaac Vetter’s seventh inning sacrifice fly pushes Washington past Fairfield
WASHINGTON — Fairfield and Washington baseball went down to the wire in their first two meetings of the season, as one run is all that separated the two teams with Fairfield coming out as the victor 1-0 and 5-4.
On Thursday, at the climax and end of their season series, it was Washington winning the Southeast Conference matchup in walk-off fashion 9-8.
Washington scored in all but one inning in the Thursday night bout and despite Fairfield only scoring in three innings the Trojans were right there as two runs is all that separated the two squads at any given time.
The real drama came in the final inning of action.
Heading into the seventh frame, the Demons held onto a 6-4 lead, but Fairfield answered in a big way.
The Trojans earned seven freebases in the inning, which included five walks and two hit by pitches.
The pitching woes by the Demons eventually led to four Fairfield runs as Zandrik Allison, who was pinch running for Caden Allison, Tallon Bates, Aiden Westercamp and Cody Birlson all made it across home plate.
Birlson and Westcamp both made it home after a pair of wild pitches during the at-bat of Aidan Kreuter in the ninth spot.
The inning would have continued, but after Tate Allen reached first on a walk he was called out for runner interference at second during the next at-bat, hence ending the inning and negating a run.
Still the Trojans went from down two runs to up two when they needed it most.
For the win, Washington would have to match its highest scoring total of the night and the Demons did not disappoint.
Aaron Boone started the Demons off right with a single to start the bottom of the seventh.
Errors by the Trojans at a crucial moment would be the deciding factor in the end as three mishaps led to two tying runs.
Washington’s James Strabala and Austin Rebling both got on following Boone to load the bases with no outs.
In the next at-bat, Luke Beenblossom hit a ground ball toward short, but the ball got through on an error and both Boone and Strabala were able to score to tie the game at 8-8.
With Rebling as the game winning run at third, Isaac Vetter stepped up to the plate and drilled the ball to left center for the walk-off sacrifice fly to score Rebling.
Through the first six innings, Washington opening up the scoring with one run in the first.
The Trojans plated three in the top of the second frame with Caden Allison, Bates and Westercamp all scoring.
Washington went on to take the lead all the way until the Trojans four in the seventh. The Demons scored five runs between the third and sixth inning.
Cody Birlson and Aidan Kreuter led the Trojans with a pair of RBIs in the game each with one hit.
Aiden Westercamp finished with two hits and an RBI as well.
Brody Phillips tallied one RBI. Dain Burkhart and Tallon Bates each had a hit as well.
On the mound for Fairfield, Bates and Kreuter gave up a combined nine runs (five earned) on nine hits, five walks and four strikeouts.
With the win, Washington improves to 4-12 on the season and 4-5 in Southeast Conference play.
Fairfield now sits at 8-14 and 4-5 in SEC play.
