Pitcher's duel ends with Fairfield win over rival Whiteoak
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Fairfield senior Nathaniel Miller and Whiteoak sophomore Gage Carraher embarked on a fierce pitchers' duel Tuesday at Fairfield High School, where both pitchers combined for 19 strikeouts, five hits, three runs and 10 walks.
The free passes and some miscommunication on defense proved to be the biggest difference in the Southern Hills League and Highland County rivalry contest to open up league play, as the Lions prevailed over the Wildcats, 3-0 at FHS.
Miller (1-0) was the winning pitcher, with a complete game shutout, allowing no runs off four hits and three walks. Miller finished with nine strikeouts.
Carraher (0-1) went six innings for the Wildcats, finishing with 10 strikeouts. Carraher allowed three runs (two earned) on one hit and seven walks.
"This was a hard-fought game. Any time you play Whiteoak it is going to be a battle," FHS head coach Jeff Miller said. "It is tough to face them early in the season, your first league game … a rival you usually battle for a league title, so it is tough to start out with them in these type of cold conditions.
"Nathaniel pitched well, and our defense came through today. Pitching and defense is what wins games for you."
As a team, the Wildcats (0-1, 1-1) finished with four errors, while the Lions (1-0, 1-1) played errorless baseball one day after committing eight errors against the Washington Blue Lions in their season opener.
The game came back to doing the little things right, which is what WHS head coach Chris Veidt talked about following the game.
"We didn't score, so hats off to (Fairfield). Miller pitched a heck of a game, and you are not going to win if you don't score," he said. "What got us today was just not making a routine play in the infield and walking too many. It seemed the walks came first, then we didn't field routine ground balls. That's the defensive side of it … not playing the game of throw-and-catch.
"You can't do that at any level."
The inning that was the game-changer was the bottom of the second, where the Lions scored two runs off of one hit, a walk and two errors.
Dakota Hargrave began the inning with a five-pitch walk, followed with Kyle Carson reaching first on a Wildcat fielding error. Jordan Boles moved the runners over with a ground out, giving FHS runners on second and third.
Fairfield's Casey Jordan hit the second pitch he saw, on a 0-1 count, for a base hit, scoring Hargrave, then WHS had a throwing error, allowing Carson to score and putting Jordan on second.
"We tried to capitalize on some of their errors and some of their walks. Jordan came up with the timely hit to give us the lead, and we were able to hold on," Miller said.
The Lions added their third and final run in the bottom of the fourth. Carson began the inning by forcing a nine-pitch walk. Nathan Hawkins entered the game as a pinch runner for Carson, the Lions' catcher. Hawkins stole second, and Jordan Boles forced the second walk of the inning on seven pitches. Cody Tolle reached first on another throwing error by the Wildcats, scoring Hawkins.
But it was the pitching by both Carraher and Miller that stood out in the game, with Miller keeping the Wildcats hitless in the second, third, sixth and seventh innings. In the third, Miller faced three batters, with all three striking out. In the fourth, Miller again struck out three batters. In the sixth, Miller forced three ground outs while facing three batters.
"I thought Nathaniel pitched a great game. What I liked about it was he was getting ahead of most hitters, and we got to the point where we were pitching for contact with his fastball," Miller said. "What I really liked was when Nathaniel got behind in the count he was able to come back and get the hitter out. He had excellent control, hit his spots and mixed it up. He had one of the best games of his career."
Carraher had three innings of two strikeouts. He didn't allow a hit after the second inning, after which he faced 18 batters following the second-inning single by Jordan.
"The offensive side of this is we didn't score, hats off to Miller again," Veidt said. "We try to roll offensively, go deep in counts and try to get the pitcher into at least 15 pitches, and I think he was only at that three times today. We weren't selective, and we didn't do a good job of adjusting to his off-speed pitches, but again, his stuff was working."
The season will continue for WHS on Thursday as they face Peebles at WHS in an SHL matchup at 5 p.m.
The four hits by the Wildcats came off the bats of Gage Carraher (two singles), Williams and Smith. All four hits were singles. WHS had the bases loaded in the fourth with one out, but Miller struck out two straight batters to end the inning.
"This was our third time outside in the cold weather and we played cold," Veidt said. "I think maybe we let adversity bite us today, where we let one small thing snowball on us, and we let it happen again because we didn't come back from it well. For whatever reason, we just didn't have the energy today."
The Lions will take on Fayetteville on Thursday, at Fayetteville High School at 5 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Mike Carraher converted a double play in the bottom of the fourth for WHS … Gage Carraher picked off a runner at second in the third … Jesse Bradds threw out a runner on a steal attempt from home plate to second … Gage Carraher threw over 100 pitches.[[In-content Ad]]
The free passes and some miscommunication on defense proved to be the biggest difference in the Southern Hills League and Highland County rivalry contest to open up league play, as the Lions prevailed over the Wildcats, 3-0 at FHS.
Miller (1-0) was the winning pitcher, with a complete game shutout, allowing no runs off four hits and three walks. Miller finished with nine strikeouts.
Carraher (0-1) went six innings for the Wildcats, finishing with 10 strikeouts. Carraher allowed three runs (two earned) on one hit and seven walks.
"This was a hard-fought game. Any time you play Whiteoak it is going to be a battle," FHS head coach Jeff Miller said. "It is tough to face them early in the season, your first league game … a rival you usually battle for a league title, so it is tough to start out with them in these type of cold conditions.
"Nathaniel pitched well, and our defense came through today. Pitching and defense is what wins games for you."
As a team, the Wildcats (0-1, 1-1) finished with four errors, while the Lions (1-0, 1-1) played errorless baseball one day after committing eight errors against the Washington Blue Lions in their season opener.
The game came back to doing the little things right, which is what WHS head coach Chris Veidt talked about following the game.
"We didn't score, so hats off to (Fairfield). Miller pitched a heck of a game, and you are not going to win if you don't score," he said. "What got us today was just not making a routine play in the infield and walking too many. It seemed the walks came first, then we didn't field routine ground balls. That's the defensive side of it … not playing the game of throw-and-catch.
"You can't do that at any level."
The inning that was the game-changer was the bottom of the second, where the Lions scored two runs off of one hit, a walk and two errors.
Dakota Hargrave began the inning with a five-pitch walk, followed with Kyle Carson reaching first on a Wildcat fielding error. Jordan Boles moved the runners over with a ground out, giving FHS runners on second and third.
Fairfield's Casey Jordan hit the second pitch he saw, on a 0-1 count, for a base hit, scoring Hargrave, then WHS had a throwing error, allowing Carson to score and putting Jordan on second.
"We tried to capitalize on some of their errors and some of their walks. Jordan came up with the timely hit to give us the lead, and we were able to hold on," Miller said.
The Lions added their third and final run in the bottom of the fourth. Carson began the inning by forcing a nine-pitch walk. Nathan Hawkins entered the game as a pinch runner for Carson, the Lions' catcher. Hawkins stole second, and Jordan Boles forced the second walk of the inning on seven pitches. Cody Tolle reached first on another throwing error by the Wildcats, scoring Hawkins.
But it was the pitching by both Carraher and Miller that stood out in the game, with Miller keeping the Wildcats hitless in the second, third, sixth and seventh innings. In the third, Miller faced three batters, with all three striking out. In the fourth, Miller again struck out three batters. In the sixth, Miller forced three ground outs while facing three batters.
"I thought Nathaniel pitched a great game. What I liked about it was he was getting ahead of most hitters, and we got to the point where we were pitching for contact with his fastball," Miller said. "What I really liked was when Nathaniel got behind in the count he was able to come back and get the hitter out. He had excellent control, hit his spots and mixed it up. He had one of the best games of his career."
Carraher had three innings of two strikeouts. He didn't allow a hit after the second inning, after which he faced 18 batters following the second-inning single by Jordan.
"The offensive side of this is we didn't score, hats off to Miller again," Veidt said. "We try to roll offensively, go deep in counts and try to get the pitcher into at least 15 pitches, and I think he was only at that three times today. We weren't selective, and we didn't do a good job of adjusting to his off-speed pitches, but again, his stuff was working."
The season will continue for WHS on Thursday as they face Peebles at WHS in an SHL matchup at 5 p.m.
The four hits by the Wildcats came off the bats of Gage Carraher (two singles), Williams and Smith. All four hits were singles. WHS had the bases loaded in the fourth with one out, but Miller struck out two straight batters to end the inning.
"This was our third time outside in the cold weather and we played cold," Veidt said. "I think maybe we let adversity bite us today, where we let one small thing snowball on us, and we let it happen again because we didn't come back from it well. For whatever reason, we just didn't have the energy today."
The Lions will take on Fayetteville on Thursday, at Fayetteville High School at 5 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Mike Carraher converted a double play in the bottom of the fourth for WHS … Gage Carraher picked off a runner at second in the third … Jesse Bradds threw out a runner on a steal attempt from home plate to second … Gage Carraher threw over 100 pitches.[[In-content Ad]]