Fairborn beats Xenia baseball XENIA — Fairborn dealt Xenia a tough 6-4 loss on Tuesday night in another great showdown between the two teams.
The Hawks, who have won four of their last five, combined for 10 hits in the victory, led by Bronson Marlett, Zac Gillespie and James Jessee with doubles.
Jessee got the victory on the mound in seven innings of work. He struck out 10. Xenia’s Clint Krakowiak took the loss.
“It was another good old-fashioned Xenia-Fairborn game,” said Fairborn head coach Rob Smith. “This was a big win for us going into Miamisburg with a chance for third place in our division.”
For Xenia, which had seven hits, Alex Briggs had three singles and Andrew Bolka had a double.
The Bucs had a pair of runners on base in the seventh, but a lineout to first base was caught and the Skyhawks stepped on first for a double play to end the game.
“Fairborn does the same thing we do, which is make costly errors at the wrong time,” said Xenia head coach Rick Lorenzo. “We made some mental mistakes, like that double play, and that’s our biggest problem. We made it at the wrong time and it cost us.”
Xenia led 2-0 after an error allowed Josh Hiney and Briggs to score. Fairborn tied it up in the second, but the Bucs retook the lead after Troy Kozi scored on an error in the bottom of the second.
Jessee’s 2-RBI double gave Fairborn a 4-3 lead in the third, and the Hawks went up 5-3 after a Marlett sacrifice fly scored Jaycen Newsome.
Nick Cain scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to get Xenia within a run, but Fairborn went back up by two off a Marlett double that scored Mark Swope.
The Bucs lost another heartbreaker, 2-0, to Miamisburg on Monday night. Cain got the loss; he gave up six hits and struck out two.
“It was a good, clean game and it was a battle, we just came out on the wrong end,” Lorenzo said.
Toby Clark got the victory for Miamisburg. He struck out seven.
Xenia is now 6-13 overall and 4-7 in the GWOC South. Fairborn is 12-11 overall and 5-7 in the South.
