Last Man Standing?
For a while it was a game. In the end, it became an exercise in frustration and futility for Fairborn as Troy won its tournament opener.

Sonny Fulks/1570wptw.com

Obviously, for six innings Wednesday’s district tournament game between Troy and Fairborn was a game.

Troy starter Luke Langdon saw to it, surrendering 5 runs on 5 hits over his six innings of work. He left with a 7-5 lead.

And just as obvious, the wheels fell off for Fairborn over the last four innings…a span that saw Troy score 8 unanswered runs, Post 526 run out of pitching, and the fates of baseball turn against them.  Troy won it, 13-5!

For their part, Troy’s relentless offense hammered out 13 runs on 12 hits and stranded 9 runners on base. Langdon was effective enough to gain the win…reliever Wes Hawk spectacular over the last three innings to record the save. He surrendered three hits and struck out five of the nine hitters he faced.

For Fairborn, it was another story. Out early to a 3-0 lead, starter Jared Whited could not withstand the prosperity and promptly lost the lead in the bottom of the third when Troy sent eight hitters to the plate and abruptly ended his stint on the mound. Reliever Garrett Copas came on to subdue the Troy attack, if only temporarily.

In the fifth Post 43 scored twice when Kyle Stephenson, Tyler Stephenson and Joe Gordon strung together three doubles and took a 7-5 lead.

They added two more in the sixth, three more in the seventh, and capped the night’s scoring with three in the eighth. In effect, they were the last man standing.

Fairborn could do nothing against the offerings of Wes Hawk…except for a strange fly ball off the bat of third baseman Andrew Snell in the top of the seventh.  To everyone sitting in the stands it appeared to have left the ballpark…but did not! The ball dropped in front of the left field fence and Snell was forced to settle for a two-base hit.

Fairborn and coach Jeff Whited vehemently argued home run. The umpires huddled briefly to confer...and disagreed.

In the meantime, Copas, who displayed a live arm and was competitive for four innings, turned out to be a four-inning pitcher. The Troy offense ultimately caught up with him and fellow reliever Derrick Jevedon.

Tyler Stephenson and Brandon Compton led Troy with two hits apiece...and Matt Powell broke his recent dry spell with a pair of hits late in the game.

“Our offense never quits,” admitted Frosty Brown. “They’ve really come together over the past month and obviously we’re enjoying playing together as a group.

“Luke (Langdon) gave us a good effort tonight and should have had a better pitching line because the two errors behind him made him work harder than necessary. Mechanically, he’s not quite where he’d like to be after missing some time. But Hawk’s been unbelievable…nearly unhittable…and was tough again tonight.”

Having used five pitchers in two nights, Fairborn joins Piqua among the ranks of the pitching poor entering Thursday’s loser bracket game with Post 184 at Hardman Field.

“I give them credit for the way they came out tonight,” added Brown. “They’re a team that can put up some runs and they got off to the good start. But I think we’re obviously in a better position pitching-wise than either Fairborn or Piqua for the rest of the week. It’s going to be tough for both of them to hold up over the next three days.”

Fairborn and Piqua will meet at 7 pm Thursday at Hardman to see which arm-weary team is the last man standing. The winner will play Troy on Friday!

Air time for Thursday’s game on 1570 AM is 6:45.