Dragons come up short in district semis

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CHILLICOTHE — What started as a surprise run quickly came to a halt.

The Fairland Dragons surprised Oak Hill to begin the district tournament, but the quest to move on stopped on Wednesday with a 9-4 loss to the Lucasville Valley Indians.

The Indians used their speed and some small ball tactics while taking advantage of some Fairland errors to get the win at Veterans Stadium.

After a scoreless first inning, Valley (17-6) pushed across five runs in the second inning.

With one out, Nolan Barnett tripled into the right field corner and Nick Queen followed with a single to right for a 1-0 lead.

Brady Hanes beat out an infield hit in the hole at second base with Queen running all the way to third base. Hunter Cunningham then put down a sacrifice bunt to score Queen and was safe when the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag.

Parker Robinson walked to load the bases and Gabe McNeil hit a bloop single into right field and it was 3-0.

Nolan Barnett hit into a force out at second base to drive in a run and Carson Powell reached on an error as the final run scored.

Fairland (8-17) cut the deficit to 5-3 in the top of the fourth inning.

Elias Blankenship walked and Luke Brown singled to put runners on the corners. Josh Gillespie walked to load the bases and Chase Lapole  grounded out to second base as a run scored.

Cyrus Cummings hit into a force play as a run scored and Kaden Wiseman and Wyatt Thomas walked to force in the final run.

But the Indians (17-6) got a run back in the bottom of the inning when McNeil was hit by a pitch, moved up on wild pitch and McNeil scored when Jaekyn Ridout beat out a hit on a slow ball and McNeil scored from second base.

The lead went to 8-3 in the fifth inning when Barnett walked, Queen beat out an infield hit, Hanes grounded out for an RBI and Cunningham singled to right field and Cunningham singled home the final run of the inning.

Valley’s final run scored in the sixth when McNeil beat out an infield hit, stole second, and scored when Ridout grounded out to second base.

Fairland capped the scoring when Ethan Wall drilled a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field for his third home run of the season.

Wall went the distance for the Dragons as he gave up nine hits, seven earned runs, four strikeouts and two walks. He was 1-4 at the plate with the home run.

Gillispie was 1-2, Brown, Blankenship and Thomas were all 1-3 and Garrett Cornwell 1-4 to account for Fairland’s hitting.

The Indians had nine hits as McNeal and Queen were 2-3 with an RBI, Barnett 2-2 with a triple, Hanes and Clark 1-3 with an RBI, and Ridout 1-4 with 2 RBI.

Ridout started and went 3.2 innings to get the win. He allowed three hits, 3 earned runs with three strikeouts and four walks. Barnett worked 2.1 innings, one earned run, with five strikeouts and one walk. Queen worked the final inning with a hit, a strikeout and a walk.

Fairland 000 300 1 = 4 6 3

Lucasville 050 121 x = 9 9 0

Ethan Wall and Josh Gillespie. Jaekyn Ridout, Nolan Barnett (4), Nick Queen (7) and Parker Robinson. W–Ridout (IP-3.2, H-3, R-3, ER-3, K-3, BB-4). Barnett (IP-2.1, H-2, R-1, ER-1, K-5, BB-1, HBP-1). Queen (IP-1.0, H-1, R-0, K-1, BB-1). L–Wall (IP-6.0, H-9, R-9, ER-7, K-4, BB-2, HBP-1). Hitting–Fairland: Wyatt Thomas 1-3, Ethan Wall 1-4 RBI HR, Garrett Cornwell 1-4, Elias Blankenship 1-3, Luke Brown 1-3, Josh Gillespie 1-2; Lucasville Valley: Gabe McNeil 2-3 RBI, Jaekyn Ridout 1-4 2-RBI. Nolan Barnett 2-2 3B, Nick Queen 2-3 RBI, Brady Hanes 1-3 RBI, Eli Clark 1-3 RBI.