Tigers blank Redmen, clinch share of OVC title

PEDRO — The Ironton Fighting Tigers are hoping to make this a habit.

Behind the four-hit pitching of Dawson Philyaw, Ironton blanked the Rock Hill Redmen 8-0 on Wednesday to earn a share of the Ohio Valley Conference baseball title.

The Fighting Tigers won the conference outright last season.

“One of our goals was to win the league and we accomplished that. The kids worked hard all year and they did a great job,” said Ironton coach John Hunt.

“We tied for the title with Portsmouth, but there were a lot of good and competitive teams. It’s a battle in this league every year.”

Ironton is 13-4 overall and finishes 12-2 in the OVC, tied for first place with Portsmouth.

The Trojans — whose both losses were to Ironton — beat Fairland 3-1 to earn its share of the title. Ironton’s losses were to Gallia Academy and Fairland.

Philyaw struck out 10 and walked just two. He threw 69 strikes among his 100 pitches.

Jacob Hughes was 2-3 with a double and 4 runs batted in to pace Ironton offensively. Ethan Sutton was 2-4 with an RBI, Carter Bridges 1-4 with 2 RBI, Tanner Kleinman 1-3, Philyaw and Owen Gallion 1-3, Jaxson Lavender 1-1 and Bryson Kerns 1-4.

Rock Hill (4-13, 3-11) got hits from Braylon McClellan, Camron Howard, Carter Bailey and Gavin Brooks. All four went 1-3.

“Give Rock Hill credit. They played hard the whole game. They have a nice young team,” said Hunt.

Ironton opened the game by scoring 3 runs in the first inning.

Braydon Baker reached on an error and Kerns walked. Baker was thrown out on a double steal attempt but Kerns moved up on a wild pitch and scored when Sutton reached on a fielder’s choice.

Sutton went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a hit by Hughes who went to third on a throwing error to home. Carter Bridges was safe on an error as Hughes came home.

The lead went to 7-0 in the second inning by scoring 4 times with 2 outs.

Kerns and Sutton singled and Hughes doubled them home. Hughes went to third on the throw home and Kleinman followed with an RBI single.

Kleinman stole second and scored on a hit by Bridges.

The final run scored in the sixth inning when Kerns reached on a missed third strike, stole second and came home on a hit by Sutton.

Ironton 340 001 0 = 8 10 2

Rock Hill 000 000 0 = 0 4 3

Dawson Philyaw and Ethan Sutton. Wyatt Kiser, Brady Loper (4) and Austin Simpson. W-Philyaw (IP-7.0, H-4, R-0, ER-0, K-10, BB-2). L- Kiser (IP-3.0, H-8, R-7, ER-5, K-1, BB-2). Loper (IP-4.0, H-2, R-1, ER-0, K-5, BB-2). Hitting–Ironton: Bryson Kerns 1-4, Ethan Sutton 2-4 RBI, Jacob Hughes 2-3 2B 4-RBI, Tanner Kleinman 1-3, Carter Bridges 1-4 2-RBI, Dawson Philyaw 1-3, Jaxson Lavender 1-1, Owen Gallion 1-3; Rock Hill: Braylin McClellan 1-3, Camron Howard 1-3, Carter Bailey 1-3, Gavin Brooks 1-3.