Borland's 3-hitter silences Tiger bats, Falcons take district title

ATHENS — Vince Vaughn’s character in the movie “The Wedding Crashers” said the famous line, “Rule #76. No excuses.”

Ironton head baseball coach John Hunt didn’t quote the rule or line, but he wasn’t offering any excuses after the Fighting Tigers suffered a 9-2 loss to the Minford Falcons in the Division 5 district title game on Friday at Ohio University.

“Usually it’s about who makes the least amount of mistakes. (Minford) just came out and won the game. They played really well,” said Hunt.

“We just didn’t play as cleanly of a game as they did. They made every play they needed to make. Boland pitched a tremendous game.”

Minford pitcher Ty Borland gave up just 3 hits, 2 earned runs, struck out 5 and walked 2 as he threw 60 strikes among his 94 pitches.

“They’ve got a good group of seniors. They look good on the field. I didn’t see any weaknesses. Shortstop looked great. Third baseman played a great game,” Hunt said of the veteran Falcons’ team.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when Minford took a 3-0 lead.

Max Lauder reached on a one-out error, Mason Bradley singled and Borland belted a two-run double. Carter Frazie then singled home Borland.

Ironton got two of the runs back in the top of the fourth to trail 3-2.

Braydon Baker led off with a base hit, Bryson Kerns walked, Baker tagged up on a fly out and went to third, and Kerns then stole second.

Jacob Hughes followed with a base hit to drive in both runners.

But Minford (25-3) answered the challenge with its own two runs in the bottom of the inning and led 5-2.

Evan Richards walked, Curtis Glenn singled and Lauder singled for a run, Borland singled and Frazie hit a sacrifice fly.

The Falcons put the game away with four runs in the fifth inning.

Mark Napier was safe on a two-base error, Colt Donahue singled, Richards put down a sacrifice bunt, Lauder had a two-out single, Bradley was safe on an error, Borland walked and Frazie singled.

Baker started for Ironton and went 3.1 innings and gave up 10 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, struck out 3, walked one and hit a batter. Dawson Philyaw went the final 2.2 innings giving up 3 hits, 4 runs — all unearned — with a strikeout and a walk.

“On our side, we made a few miscues here and a few there. As a pitcher you start to get tired and start missing spots. They’ve seen all your pitches and start tagging you a little bit. Hitting is contagious,” said Hunt.

“That’s why I had to go to Dawson and they were still a little bit contagious when Dawson went in.”

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when Minford took a 3-0 lead.

Max Lauder reached on a one-out error, Mason Bradley singled and Borland belted a two-run double. Carter Frazie then singled home Borland.

Ironton got two of the runs back in the top of the fourth to trail 3-2.

Braydon Baker led off with a base hit, Bryson Kerns walked, Baker tagged up on a fly out and went to third, and Kerns then stole second.

Jacob Hughes followed with a base hit to drive in both runners.

But Minford answered the challenge with its own two runs in the bottom of the inning and led 5-2.

Evan Richards walked, Curtis Glenn singled and Lauder singled for a run, Borland singled and Frazie hit a sacrifice fly.

The Falcons put the game away with four runs in the fifth inning.

Mark Napier was safe on a two-base error, Colt Donahue singled, Richards put down a sacrifice bunt, Lauder had a two-out single, Bradley was safe on an error, Borland walked and Frazie singled.

Hughes was 1-3 with 2 RBI with both Baker and Tanner Kleinman going 1-3 to account for the Ironton offensive production.

Ironton finished the season 17-7, won a second straight Ohio Valley Conference title by tying with Portsmouth, and advanced to the district finals for a second straight year.

Hunt said a lot of the credit goes to the seniors Tanner Kleinman, Braydon Baker, Dawson Philyaw, Carson Freeman and Zander Hurn for the team’s success.

“This year, with this group of kids, with the leaders I had on this team, the seniors were tremendous,” said Hunt.

“As a coach, being able to stand and watch them take charge and let them run what’s going on, and see how they’re running it, when you’re able to do that, then something is going right. And that’s what we’ve had here. Those guys have been able to gel.”

Minford had 13 total hits with Borland going 3-3 with a double and 3 RBI, Frazie 2-4 with 3 RBI, Donahue 2-4 with 2 RBI and Lauder 2-4 and an RBI to lead the offense.

Ironton 000 200 0 = 2 3 4

Minford 003 240 x = 9 13 0

Braydon Baker, Dawson Philyaw (4) and Ethan Sutton. Ty Borland and Colby Mullens. W-Borland (IP-7.0, H-3, R-2, ER-2, K05, BB-2). L-Baker (IP-3.1, H-10, R-5, ER-3,  K-3, BB-1, HBP-1). Philyaw (IP-2.2, H-3, R-4, ER-0, K-1, BB-1). Hitting–Ironton: Braydon Baker 1-3, Jacob Hughes 1-2 2-RBI, Tanner Kleinman 1-3; Minford: Max Lauder 2-4 RBI, Mason Bradley 1-4, Ty Borland 3-3 2B 3-RBI, Carter Frazie 2-4 3-RBI, Colby Mullens 1-4, Mark Napier 1-3, Colt Donahue 2-4 2-RBI, Curtis Glenn 1-3.