Fairfield opens postseason with win over La Salle
Fairfield and La Salle played for the right to continue their baseball seasons Tuesday in a Division I sectional first-round game featuring Greater Miami Conference and Greater Catholic League stalwarts at Joe Nuxhall Field in Fairfield.
Playing in the Cincinnati 1 sectional, where Lakota West is top-seeded, Fairfield, the No. 9 seed, outlasted No. 19 La Salle 5-4, continuing a season-long trend of playing them close.
The hero was Fairfield No. 3 hitter Derek Burns, who lived up to his reputation as one of the team's top clutch performers. Burns, hitting .327, has an average of .387 with runners in scoring position.
He came though again in the bottom of the sixth inning, plating the go-ahead run and setting the final score with an RBI single to right field.
"We had the right guy up there in the sixth," Fairfield coach Tony Schulz said of the junior shortstop. "Derek always seems to come through when we need it."
With three runs in the fourth, Fairfield broke open a scoreless pitchers' duel between La Salle starter Nick Ernst and the Indians' Travis Rowland, who had a no-hitter through five.
Fairfield took a 2-0 lead on a suicide squeeze and a sacrifice fly to left. Ryan Ziels followed with a run-scoring single to right, making it 3-0. It was 4-0 after five on a fielder's choice play at the plate that was too late to nab the runner.
La Salle tied it with four runs in the sixth. Eric Greene's opposite-field single down the left-field line ruined the no-hitter and shutout and pulled the Lancers to within three. La Salle knocked Rowland out of the game after plating a second run on his 95th pitch.
Fairfield reliever Joey Johnson got the win despite allowing the tying run on Jake Morgan's RBI double to left-center. Johnson wriggled out of the inning with a strikeout, stranding the go-ahead run at third.
Brandon Tirey closed it out by pitching the seventh for the Indians to earn his first save. With the tying run on first and the go-ahead run at the plate, Tirey got a game-ending fly-out. La Salle was held to four hits.
Fairfield improved to 14-12 while ending La Salle's season at 12-13. The Indians advanced to play another GCL power, St. Xavier, in Thursday's 5 p.m. second-round contest at Fairfield after the No. 16-seeded Bombers eliminated No. 18 Ross, 11-5.
The winner moves on to next Thursday's sectional final, the winner of which plays the Dayton 2 sectional champion May 24 in the district round at Centerville.
The Indians had lost six of their past eight games. Tuesday's win followed a 3-1 regular-season-ending loss in extra innings at Hamilton, their third extra-inning game in 10 days. It came two days after Fairfield beat Hamilton 2-1 in extra innings.
The Indians lost to Lakota East for the second time in four days May 5 when they dropped a 4-0 decision in a game that was preceded by back-to-back one-run losses to Springboro (11-10) and Lakota East (3-2). They lost to Lakota West for the second time in three days April 30 in a pair of close games – 2-0 and 12-9 in extra innings.
Fairfield lost five regular-season games by one run, with eight of its 12 losses coming by two runs or fewer. Tuesday was the Indians' fourth one-run victory.
VIEW FROM THE SIDELINE: "We always battle, and it seems like every single game there's one play that won it or lost it," Schulz said. "When we get into those situations, our kids don't flinch, and that's a testament to their work ethic."
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Burns went 1-for-3 with the big hit. Ziels went 3-for-3. Rowland pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two hits, three earned runs, and striking out six.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Burns' go-ahead hit came on a fastball. "I was looking for a fastball I could drive and score the runner," he said. "I thought we really fought to win it."
W–Johnson (2-0). L–Meyer. Leaders: L–Morgan 2B. F–Ziels 3-3; Staudigal 2-3. Records L 12-13, F 14-12.