Mistakes plague Flyers in tourney loss to Fairfield (video)
Staff- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
LEESBURG — To quote Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, "We made too many wrong mistakes."
For Saint Joseph that phrase proved true, as the Flyers succumbed to a plethora of errors at the wrong time and the Fairfield Lions walked away with a 7-1 win in the opening round of the Ohio High School Athletic Association tournament on Thursday.
'We just didn't produce enough at the top of the order. We got guys on but couldn't get them in," said Flyers coach Greg Bryant. "And when you compound that with some mistakes in the field, it makes for a bad night."
The Flyers (11-7) struggled at the plate, managing just two hits.
Carson Willis singled into left and stole two bases to reach third. But ultimately was stranded, leaving the score deadlocked at zero. The other hit came in the top of the seventh, as Landon Rowe reached on an infield single in his last at bat as a Flyer.
The Lions were led offensively by Corbin Willey, whose two-run homer in the third broke the scoreless tie and later added another RBI on a fielders' choice in the sixth.
Zane Matthews, Corey Zimmerman and Blaine Fauber 1-2 RBI each had a hit and an RBI. Otis Cockerill finished 2-3 at the plate for the Lions.
Cameron Miller picked up the win for Fairfield (10-9). Miller struck out four batters, walked one and allowed just one hit in 4 and 2/3 innings of work. Willey came on in the fifth to finish the game out.
In the fourth, the Flyers appeared to be primed for a big inning. But despite taking advantage of an error by Fairfield, they managed just one run to cut the deficit in half.
Wes Neal drew a walk to lead off the inning. Then Miller made an errant throw on a pickoff play that allowed Neal to reach third. One batter later, a wild pitch allowed Neal to slide into home for the Flyers first run of the game.
After the score, Carson Lyons and Ian Whaley reached on a walk and a hit by pitch, respectively. Then Blake Medinger laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with two outs.
But Miller was able to retire the next batter to end the inning and strand two runners.
Fairfield got an insurance run in the bottom of the frame after Caleb Rice reached second on a dropped third strike, stole third, and Matthews singled in Rice to make it 3-1.
The Lions capitalized on a pair of Flyer errors and scored four more runs in the sixth.
Two of those runs came on a fielding error, another came off a hit batter with the bases loaded and a sacrifice fly by Blaine Fauber scored the final run for Fairfield.
"I can't say enough about our two seniors, Wes (Neal) and Landon (Rowe). We had to replace five starters coming into this season and our expectations were uncertain. But those two really stepped up at times this season to help lead this team."
St. Joseph 000 100 0 = 1 2 4
Paint Valley 002 104 0 = 7 6 3
Cameron Miller, Corbin Willey (5) and Preston Fauber. Evan Aldridge, Carson Willis (6), Beckham Waginger (6) and Beckham Waginger, Evan Aldridge (6). W-Miller (IP-4.2, H-1, R-0, ER-0, K-4, BB-1, WP-0, HBP-0). Willey (IP-2.1, H-1, R-2, ER-1, K-1, BB-2, WP-0). L-Aldridge (IP-5.1, H-6, R-6, ER-3, K-4, BB-3, HBP-0). Willis (IP-0.1, H-0, R-1, ER-1, K-0, BB-2, HBP-1). Waginger (IP-0.1, H-0, R-0, ER-0, K-0, BB-0, HBP-0). Hitting-St. Joseph: Landon Rowe 1-3, Carson Willis 1-3; Paint Valley: Zane Matthews 1-3 RBI, Corey Zimmerman 1-3 RBI, Corbin Willey 1-4 3-RBI HR, Blaine Fauber 1-2 RBI, Otis Cockerill 2-3.
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