Pitchers’ duel, early miscues lead to Fairfield defeating rival Whiteoak 

MOWRYSTOWN — The stage was set for both the Fairfield Lions and Whiteoak Wildcats to put on a highly skilled display of baseball on Thursday night, especially from the mound. Other than one inning where the host Wildcats committed two errors — which led to Fairfield runs — the game was flawlessly played between two of the strongest teams in southern Ohio.

Both teams are ranked in the state for Division IV by the OHSBCA, with WHS No. 3 and Fairfield No. 20 in the most recent poll.

WHS senior pitcher Landon Barnett and Fairfield junior pitcher Gabe Fouch saw their pitches hit in the 80s. They both kept their opponents off-balanced, and neither allowed an earned run, but when the final out was made, it was the Lions left standing, defeating the previously undefeated Wildcats, 2-0.

“Landon Barnett and Gabe Fouch each threw a tremendous ball game this evening, and I don’t know how for a better high school baseball game,” FHS head coach Kyle Zimmerman said. “This game had a lot of action, fantastic plays were made, and at the end of the day we just happened to be the team lucky enough to come out on the side with a W.”

Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt also spoke about the pitching of the game.

“Landon pitched a great game, and that’s what we’ve come to expect of him this year,” Veidt said. “I think the thing I’m most proud of him is how he held his composure when things weren’t going his way. He’s matured so much in that regard.”

The wild inning for the ’Cats and Lions began in the top of the second when Corbin Willey was hit by a pitch on the second pitch of the at-bat to lead off the inning. Willey was caught stealing second for the first out of the inning, as WHS catcher Nate Price threw the runner out.

From there, Landry Hattan took first base on an errant throw from third base to first base. The first run for FHS scored when Cade Miller hit a line drive triple to centerfield, scoring Hattan from third. Wyatt Willey took first base on an error during the ensuing at-bat, as an error at second base allowed Miller to round the bases for a run and a 2-0 lead.

“We took advantage of a couple miscues early on, and I knew coming down here on the bus we are going to have to take advantage of anything we are given, as well as manufacturing on our own,” Zimmerman said. “The opportunity did present itself, and with the coaching staff that Whiteoak has, those opportunities don’t present itself very often. When it did arise, we took advantage of that, and ultimately it was the deciding factor in the ball game.”

Though those were the only runs scored in the game, that didn’t take away from the highly competitive Southern Hills Athletic Conference game played between the two Highland County rivals.

“We gave away freebies, and (Fairfield) hit the ball to center well, but after that you just have to make some plays, and you can’t give a team like that anything,” Veidt said. “We had (multiple) freebies in a row that inning, and that’s very uncharacteristic of us.

“Once we had a meeting on the mound, we settled down nicely and shut it down at that point. But the story was Fouch, because he shut us down, and we didn’t score. They made some big plays against us, and it was two evenly matched teams, and what did it come down to … they made less mistakes that we did, and that’s the result you are going to get.”

Before the runs were scored, rewinding back to the first inning, following a lead-off walk by Dow Moon of Fairfield, Barnett forced the next batter to hit into a double play as WHS second baseman Eli Roberts fielded the ball at second and threw to first for two outs. Barnett ended the top of the first with a strikeout.

Not to be outdone, Fouch struck out the first batter he faced, and after giving up a single, he forced a groundout and had a second strikeout to end the inning.

After Fairfield’s two-run top of the second. Fouch was back on the mound where he forced two pop-up outs and had a third strikeout in the game, seeing the Lions’ lead stay at two.

Barnett kept the pitcher’s duel going with a pop up out to start the third, followed with a ground out on a one-pitch at-bat, and a strikeout to end the inning.

The battle continued with Fouch forcing a pop up to right field for an out, followed by a strikeout, a walk and another strikeout, ending the inning.

Barnett faced four batters in the top of the fourth, with Miller hitting a two-out single, but the rest of the inning was won by Barnett with three strikeouts to retire the side. Fouch faced three batters in the bottom of the fourth with two strikeouts and a pop fly to right field for the three outs.

Again, Barnett was unhittable on the mound in the top of the fifth with a strikeout on four pitches, a groundout and a fly ball out hit to left field. Fouch faced four batters in the fifth inning, striking out the leadoff batter, but Zander Roades forced a five-pitch walk. Next came a fly ball out to right field and a strikeout from Fouch to end the inning, keeping the Wildcat runner stranded.

It was another four-batter inning for Barnett, with the senior pitcher gaining an out by a line drive catch from Luken Roades, then a ball hit back to Barnett for the second out. After hitting Willey with a pitch, the inning ended with a fielder’s choice at second base.

The bottom of the sixth saw Luken Roades single to lead off the inning for WHS, but then came three straight outs off a called third strike, a swinging strikeout and an excellent leaping off-balanced catch from Wyatt Collins to save a run and end the inning.

The top of the seventh continued to produce high-quality baseball with Barnett forcing a fly ball out to centerfield for the first out, followed by two consecutive groundouts to end the half inning.

WHS had a final opportunity to tie the score or walk off with the win, but Fouch continued to keep his speed up on his pitches, as he struck out the first batter of the inning. After a groundout, Zander Roades drew a four-pitch, two-out walk to keep the inning alive. With the tying run at the plate, Fouch saved his best for last, and on a 2-2 count, Fouch struck out the batter on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to gain the valuable SHAC win.

“I don’t know how you walk away from this, from my perspective, and not be tickled to death. When it came time to make plays our guys stepped up,” Zimmerman said. “Corbin Willey in right field, and even the guys who weren’t in the game, the teamwork was great. Wyatt also made a great play at second with the jumping catch, and thankfully he brought that jumping ability to the baseball diamond from the basketball court.”

Both teams finished with two hits in the game, with Fairfield’s two hits coming from Miller, who was 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Whiteoak’s hits were by Luken Roades (1-for-2, one walk) and Barnett (1-for-3).

As for the pitching excellence on Thursday, Fouch was the winning pitcher, allowing no runs on two hits and three walks in seven innings on the mound. He totaled 13 strikeouts and threw 110 pitches (64 for strikes). The junior faced 26 batters in the winning effort.

“This is a big win for our team, but we have to keep the focus forward,” Zimmerman said. “We can’t let this win take away from the task that’s at hand, and also hats off to the Whiteoak Wildcats. Coach Chris Veidt is a friend of mine and he does a great job, and it is always fun to play these guys because they are always competitive.

“To our team, they earned the win tonight, that’s for sure.”

Barnett had the tough-luck loss for Whiteoak. In his stellar seven-inning performance, the senior pitcher allowed two runs (both unearned) on two hits and one walk. Barnett totaled seven strikeouts, throwing 92 pitches, 64 for strikes, while facing 26 batters.

The loss moves Whiteoak to 11-1 overall this season, while Fairfield improves to 8-2 overall.

BOX SCORE
FHS    020 000 0 -  2 2 0
WHS    000 000 0 - 0 2 2