Mustangs gain 1st win of season; defeat rival Lions
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — One day after the game was originally scheduled, the Fairfield Lions hosted their first game of the 2017 season Wednesday with the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs visiting for a Southern Hills Athletic Conference game. The score was close through the first four innings, but LC was able to break away in the later innings, eventually winning by a 10-2 score.
The SHAC win by LC was their first win of the baseball season, rebounding after two losses to begin the year against the McClain Tigers. This game, the Mustangs and Lions were tied at 2-2 after three innings, and after four, the Mustangs took a one-run lead at 3-2 with P.J. Fiscus crossing home plate off a groundout to the shortstop by Drew Pitzer for the one-run lead. Fiscus ended the game 2-for-4.
[[In-content Ad]]
From there, the Mustangs had a three-run fifth, a one-run sixth, then added three more runs in the top of the seventh for their eight-run victory.
“It is good to get our first win early in the season,” LC head coach Vince Pitzer said. “Our pitching came through, and Bricen Hess has been building since the first scrimmage. He was a little wild against Greenfield, but he was better today.
“Our bats came out, and that is one of the things that concerns me early in the year. We have a lot of new kids from the JV team last year. But the bats came alive today, and I was very impressed.”
As for the beginning of the game, the first run was scored in the top of the first by LC with Pitzer crossing home plate. Pitzer initially reached the bases with a lead-off walk, followed by taking second on a sacrifice by Caden Hess. From there, he scored the run off a two-out single by Blake Croy.
Croy finished 2-for-3 with two walks and one run.
The Lions tied the score in the bottom of the first with Cody Gragg rounding the bases for the 1-1 score. Neither team scored a run in the second inning, but in the top of the third, the Mustangs took the lead with a bases-loaded RBI walk by Croy, scoring Pitzer for the 2-1 advantage. In Fairfield’s half of the third, they tied the score at 2-2 when Gragg scored on a groundout to third base by Sam Buddelmeyer.
The remainder of the scoring was done by LC with Fiscus giving LC the lead in the top of the fourth when he scored off a groundout by Pitzer. In the fifth, runs were scored by Zack Proctor, Ethan McConnaughey and Kyle Luneke, as all three batters had singles to reach the bases.
McConnaughey led the Mustangs at 3-for-4 with one walk and one run.
In the sixth, Hess added another run for the Mustangs, and in the seventh, LC had three runs from Pitzer, Josh Wolfe and Croy. Wolfe finished 2-for-4 with one walk and one run. Finishing with one hit each were Pitzer, Hess, Proctor and Luneke.
The winning pitcher was Bricen Hess of LC. Hess pitched four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks. Hess struck out six batters. Pitzer pitched two innings of relief for the Mustangs, entering the game at the top of the fifth inning. He finished with two strikeouts, while allowing no runs on two hits and two walks. Caden Hess pitched the seventh inning in relief for LC, allowing no runs on one hit and no walks.
The loss was charged to Buddelmeyer of Fairfield. He pitched the first four innings, finishing with three strikeouts. He allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and four walks. Andrew Dingey pitched two innings of relief, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits and no walks. He finished with one strikeout. Austin Setty pitched the final two innings where he allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks.
“We played pretty good, but we knew Lynchburg-Clay is always a good team and they are tough,” FHS head coach Tony Haley said. “Their pitcher (Hess) pitched really well, and we just couldn’t really catch up to him.
“We aren’t going to get too discouraged, and the good thing about baseball is we get to play tomorrow and hopefully we get our sticks going. They scored 10 runs, and we didn’t feel like our pitchers pitched that bad. They really pitched well. We gave up a couple bloops, but the bottom line is we didn’t hit well today.”
In all, the Lions threw 143 pitches, while LC totaled 129 pitches.
For the Lions at the plate, Gragg was 2-for-2 with two runs and two walks. Jacob Bowman was also 2-for-2 with two walks. The other FHS hit came from Klay Walker.
Next for the Mustangs is a SHAC game vs. Fayetteville on Thursday, and the Lions are also playing Thursday in a conference game at Peebles.
The SHAC win by LC was their first win of the baseball season, rebounding after two losses to begin the year against the McClain Tigers. This game, the Mustangs and Lions were tied at 2-2 after three innings, and after four, the Mustangs took a one-run lead at 3-2 with P.J. Fiscus crossing home plate off a groundout to the shortstop by Drew Pitzer for the one-run lead. Fiscus ended the game 2-for-4.
[[In-content Ad]]
From there, the Mustangs had a three-run fifth, a one-run sixth, then added three more runs in the top of the seventh for their eight-run victory.
“It is good to get our first win early in the season,” LC head coach Vince Pitzer said. “Our pitching came through, and Bricen Hess has been building since the first scrimmage. He was a little wild against Greenfield, but he was better today.
“Our bats came out, and that is one of the things that concerns me early in the year. We have a lot of new kids from the JV team last year. But the bats came alive today, and I was very impressed.”
As for the beginning of the game, the first run was scored in the top of the first by LC with Pitzer crossing home plate. Pitzer initially reached the bases with a lead-off walk, followed by taking second on a sacrifice by Caden Hess. From there, he scored the run off a two-out single by Blake Croy.
Croy finished 2-for-3 with two walks and one run.
The Lions tied the score in the bottom of the first with Cody Gragg rounding the bases for the 1-1 score. Neither team scored a run in the second inning, but in the top of the third, the Mustangs took the lead with a bases-loaded RBI walk by Croy, scoring Pitzer for the 2-1 advantage. In Fairfield’s half of the third, they tied the score at 2-2 when Gragg scored on a groundout to third base by Sam Buddelmeyer.
The remainder of the scoring was done by LC with Fiscus giving LC the lead in the top of the fourth when he scored off a groundout by Pitzer. In the fifth, runs were scored by Zack Proctor, Ethan McConnaughey and Kyle Luneke, as all three batters had singles to reach the bases.
McConnaughey led the Mustangs at 3-for-4 with one walk and one run.
In the sixth, Hess added another run for the Mustangs, and in the seventh, LC had three runs from Pitzer, Josh Wolfe and Croy. Wolfe finished 2-for-4 with one walk and one run. Finishing with one hit each were Pitzer, Hess, Proctor and Luneke.
The winning pitcher was Bricen Hess of LC. Hess pitched four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks. Hess struck out six batters. Pitzer pitched two innings of relief for the Mustangs, entering the game at the top of the fifth inning. He finished with two strikeouts, while allowing no runs on two hits and two walks. Caden Hess pitched the seventh inning in relief for LC, allowing no runs on one hit and no walks.
The loss was charged to Buddelmeyer of Fairfield. He pitched the first four innings, finishing with three strikeouts. He allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and four walks. Andrew Dingey pitched two innings of relief, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits and no walks. He finished with one strikeout. Austin Setty pitched the final two innings where he allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks.
“We played pretty good, but we knew Lynchburg-Clay is always a good team and they are tough,” FHS head coach Tony Haley said. “Their pitcher (Hess) pitched really well, and we just couldn’t really catch up to him.
“We aren’t going to get too discouraged, and the good thing about baseball is we get to play tomorrow and hopefully we get our sticks going. They scored 10 runs, and we didn’t feel like our pitchers pitched that bad. They really pitched well. We gave up a couple bloops, but the bottom line is we didn’t hit well today.”
In all, the Lions threw 143 pitches, while LC totaled 129 pitches.
For the Lions at the plate, Gragg was 2-for-2 with two runs and two walks. Jacob Bowman was also 2-for-2 with two walks. The other FHS hit came from Klay Walker.
Next for the Mustangs is a SHAC game vs. Fayetteville on Thursday, and the Lions are also playing Thursday in a conference game at Peebles.