WINNSBORO – Richard Winn and Fairfield Central’s baseball teams spent Monday and Tuesday of spring break battling on the baseball field.
Monday, the Griffins fell 11-1 at home against the Eagles.
Richard Winn scored four in the top of the first to set the tone for the game.
With two outs, Charlie Bonds singled to right. Johnathan Bonds singled to left field, then Turner Burchell singled to shortstop to load the bases. Owen Martin hit a line drive single to right that scored Charlie Bonds and Johnathan Bonds. Martin advanced to second on a fielding error. Walker Blackwelder reached on a Griffin fielding error that scored two runs before the inning ended with a strikeout.
The Eagles added another run in the top of the third. Johnathan Bonds doubled to left field to lead off the inning. Burchell followed with a ground ball double to left that scored Bonds. Three strikeouts ended the frame.
Fairfield scored in the bottom of the fifth. Trey Wilcox drew a walk from Charlie Bonds. Bonds hit M Jackson-Nellums with a pitch to put runners on first and second. Both runners advanced on a passed ball. Bradford Trapp reached base on a dropped third strike that scored Wilcox. Fairfield trailed 5-1. It would be the only time Fairfield plated a run in the game.
The Eagle bats responded in the top of the sixth.
Dylan Albert singled to left field to lead off the inning. Charlie Bonds was hit by a pitch, and the Griffins made a pitching change. Brown came in to replace Kaden Diggs, who started the game for Fairfield.
A single from Johnathan Bonds scored Albert and put Charlie Bonds on third. Johnathan Bonds stole second, then Charlie Bonds scored on a wild pitch. Turner Burchell and Owen Martin were both hit by pitches to load the bases.
A fly ball double play left Eagle runners on second and third with two outs. Josh Tyndall reached on a fielding error that scored Johnathan Bonds and Hoffman Sharpe (in to run for Burchell). Harris McLean and Bennett Nicholson both drew walks to load the bases again. A single from Albert scored Tyndall, but McLean was out advancing to home to end the frame.
Another Griffin pitching change put Worthy on the mound for the final inning.
With one out, Johnathan Bonds was hit by a pitch. Turner Burchell doubled again to advance Bonds to third. Owen Martin flew out to center, which scored Bonds, but Sharpe (in to run for Burchell) was thrown out advancing to end the inning.
Johnathan Bonds and Turner Burchell led the Eagles at the plate. Both had three hits each and doubled (Burchell twice). Martin had a team-high three RBIs.
Charlie Bonds got the win for Richard Winn. He pitched a complete seven innings and allowed only one hit and one run. He walked two and struck out 14.
Diggs worked five innings for the Griffins. He struck out 13, walked three, and allowed eight hits and seven runs (five earned).
Tuesday’s game started out similarly, but the Eagles claimed only a two-run win this time.
Johnathan Bonds singled to score one. Margin drew a walk to score one, and Blackwelder hit a two-run single to put the Eagles up 4-0 after one inning again.
Johnathan Bonds hit another RBI single in the bottom of the second to put the Eagles up by five before the Griffins responded.
Trapp was hit by a pitch (Owen Martin on the mound) to lead off the top of the third for Fairfield. Jones reached on a fielding error and advanced to second. Trapp scored on a wild pitch; Jones advanced to third. Graeme Douglas drew a walk and stole second, but runners were left stranded as the inning ended.
Richard Winn added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Albert drew a walk and Charlie Bonds singled to left field to put runners on the corners. Albert scored off of a Johnathan Bonds ground out to short. A fielding error on Burchell’s hit scored Charlie Bonds to give the Eagles a 7-1 lead after four innings.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Jones singled to center field. Diggs reached first on a fielding error; both runners advanced to put two Griffins in scoring position. Graeme Douglas singled to right to score two; he advanced to second on the throw. Douglas advanced to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Worthy reached on an Eagle fielding error that scored Douglas and closed the lead to 7-4.
Both teams stayed scoreless in the sixth, but the Griffins started a rally in the top of the seventh that would score one.
Dylan Albert came in to close the game for the Eagles.
Jones singled to shortstop, advanced to second on a passed ball, but was thrown out stealing third. Graeme Douglas drew a two-out walk. Watkins singled to right field to put runners on the corners. Douglas scored on a wild pitch, and Watkins advanced to third on the same pitch, but a 6-3 groundout ended the rally – and the game – with Fairfield down 7-5.
RW – 4-0-1-0-0-5-1 – 11, 11, 0
FC – 0-0-0-0-1-0-0 – 1, 1, 4
WP: C Bonds 7.0IP, 1H, 1R, 2BB, 14K
LP: K Diggs 5.0IP, 8H, 7R, 5ER, 3BB, 13K
RW: D Albert 2-5, RBI. C Bonds 1-4. J Bonds 3-3, 2B RBI. T Burchell 3-4, 2 2B, RBI. O Martin 1-2, 3 RBI. J Tyndall 1-4. FC: G Douglas 1-3.
FC – 0-0-1-0-3-0-1 – 5, 5, 1
RW – 4-1-0-2-0-0-X – 7, 6, 3
WP: O Martin 6.0IP, 3H, 4R, 1ER, 2BB, 8K
LP: M Nellums 0.1 IP, 4H, 4R, 2B
RW: B Nicholson 1-4. D Albert 1-1. C Bonds 1-2. J Bonds 2-4, 3 RBI. W Blackwelder 1-2, 2 RBI. FC: K Jones 2-4. G Douglas 2-2, 2 RBI. L Watkins 1-4. J Worthy 1-3.
