Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Beavercreek senior CJ Barnes barrels a line drive hit into left field for a single against Fairmont on Wednesday.
Beavercreek junior Frankie Fouts (14) fires a groundball hit to second over to senior Joey Donahue (22) at first for the out.
Beavercreek senior Joey Donahue flips to his pitcher covering first for an early out in the game.
Beavercreek senior Austin Papalios is congratulated after reaching base.
Beavercreek sophomore Owen Roether got the start and went four innings.
BEAVERCREEK — A bases loaded opportunity presented itself to Beavercreek in its last at-bat on Wednesday for a chance to pull off an upset.
With the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, Fairmont’s defense showed why the group is state ranked in Division I.
A 4-6-3 double play hit into by Beavercreek settled down Fairmont and helped the Firebirds escape a final rally to prevail 6-4.
Trailing by three, Brayden King and Parker Shannon both singled to lead off the final inning with the latter hitting a liner off pitcher Keegan Hart’s right shin. Hart stayed in the game but walked Austin Papalios to load the bases with no outs.
Shaun Morse represented the go-ahead run and got a ball hit into play, but it went directly at Stevie Doty to second base who started an easy twin killing that still pulled Beavercreek a run closer.
Joey Donahue wasn’t able to extend the game on a roller hit to shortstop for the final out.
Beavercreek got the lead early on a pair of singles in the second inning and starter Owen Roether held Fairmont off the scoreboard in the first three innings.
Station-to-station baserunning got three runs for Fairmont, ranked No. 11 in the latest OHSBCA state coaches poll, in the fourth to take the lead, and a failed double play turn by Beavercreek in the fifth led to a bloop single that plated two more and turned into the winning runs in the fifth.
Multiple stranded runners by the Beavers’ bats in the same frames kept them from keeping pace.
Faring well in the difficult GWOC with a 6-6 record, Beavercreek has taken care of business outside of it by going 6-1 in out of conference play. That includes a six-run win over Bellbrook and a split with two of the conference leaders in Springboro and Miamisburg.
As the tournament draw approaches on Sunday, Beavercreek has several more chances to potentially improve their seeding. They will play Fairmont again on Friday before also facing Carroll in a game taking place at Day Air Ball Park in Dayton on Saturday.
They’ll also face Troy, currently a few spots behind Fairmont in the state poll, as a final tune-up before sectional play begins.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-5022-4498 and follow on Twitter @Steven_Wright_.
