Triad’s Derek Bails (11) slides into second base as Fairbanks’ Bryce Phelps (8) attempts to tag out the Cardinal.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
Triad’s varsity baseball squad earned a late 4-0 win over visiting Fairbanks in an Ohio Heritage Conference contest.
“We’ve been waiting for our bats to come alive,” Triad coach Jon Roberts said. “It was a good pitching battle… kudos to Fairbanks.”
“Triad’s pitcher pitched a really nice game,” FHS coach Josh Rine said, adding this is the second time they’ve faced the Cardinals this season.
Going into the contest, Triad had a record of 4-7, while the visiting Panthers came with a 5-7 record in the Ohio Heritage Conference. The Cardinals were 4-11 overall, while Fairbanks was at an even 8-8.
“We are a much better team than what our record is showing,” Roberts said.
It was a battle of defensive wit in Cardinal country as both teams were on high alert.
There were several instances where both teams were in scoring position, but bad luck along with defensive prowess made it difficult to score.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning, Triad’s Ayden Spriggs hit a high fly toward center field. The ball was caught for an out.
Another potential scoring situation occurred when Devin Bradley singled.
Bradley eventually snuck his way to third base as Gage Heitman was in the midst of his at-bat.
With two outs already, Fairbanks’ pitcher Evan Blumenschein struck out Heitman to end the Cardinals’ threat.
The Panthers put themselves in scoring position in the top of the fifth after Triad’s catcher was called for interference.
This led to Fairbanks loading the bases with Noah Rausch on first, Ryker Beaty on second and CJ Swartz on third.
However, with two outs already claimed by Triad, a ball hit by Max Snyder was caught for the final out.
Triad finally broke the seal in the bottom of the sixth inning.
With bases loaded, Heitman earned a walk which brought Logan Braun in for the first run of the game.
Triad’s Diego Hernandez was out at first, but not before allowing Michael Warner to score the team’s second run.
In the end, the Cardinals put four runs on the board thanks to Warner, Heitman, Braun and Bradley.
The Panthers had one final opportunity to challenge the lead.
They were, however, uprooted with another strong defensive performance by Triad.
The losing pitcher for the Panthers was Blumenschein. He went six innings, allowing four runs on three hits, striking out five and walking five.
“Our pitcher pitched an excellent game as well,” Rine said. “All in all both teams played pretty clean.”
Spriggs notched the win for the Cardinals.
He gave up five hits in seven innings, while fanning six and issuing one walk.