Jalen Jackson (5) had three RBIs in the Griffins’ win over Richard Winn. | Martha Ladd
WINNSBORO – Long-time Fairfield Central Griffins head baseball coach, Scotty Dean notched his 100th career win last week with a win over region rival Chester last Tuesday. Coincidentally, Dean also notched his first career win as the Griffins’ head coach against the Cyclones.
Dean
The Griffins added number 101 to Dean’s record in spectacular fashion last week with a 14-1 blowout of in-town rival Richard Winn Academy. Jalen Jackson had three RBIs in the big win, and both CJ Simmons and Taylor Truesdale batted in a couple of runs each. Shykeim Holmes got the start on the mound, pitched all five innings, gave up six hits, zero earned runs and had two punch outs.
“First of all, you have to be at a place long enough to win 100 games,” Dean said. “I’ve been fortunate, this is I think my 11th season, and it’s pretty special. We’ve had a bunch of good baseball players come through here, and for me to be able to stay around and coach them is pretty special.”
The win over Richard Winn put the Griffins on a six-game winning streak, but that streak was snapped on Friday night by the Indian Land Warriors. Fairfield was playing their Region 4-3A foe closely until a disastrous top half of the fifth inning. The Griffins ended the game with six errors, and Indian Land emerged with the 14-4 victory.
Indian Land capitalized on a pair of early Griffin errors to jump out to a 3-0 lead in top of the first, but Fairfield quickly countered with three of their own. Jacob McManus belted a three-RBI double in the bottom of the first that tied the game back up.
A wild-pitch, and a Zach Webb sacrifice grounder put Indian Land ahead 5-3 after three innings, and Trace White singled in another run in the fourth. Then in the fifth, Indian Land pushed across eight more runs and the game ended after five due to the SCHSL mercy rule.
“I think we could have hit their pitching, but right we’re not there on defense,” Dean said. “We made too many errors; it kind of messed the game up for us. I thought it was huge for us to come back and put three up after they went up 3-0. Then they get another one, then get another one, then you look up there and it’s 14-3.”
The Griffins faced C.A. Johnson Wednesday, but scores were not available at press time. They host Richard Winn for a rematch Friday at 6:30.
Fairfield 14, Richard Winn 1
FCHS: 3-0-1-4-6-X-X-14
RWA: 0-0-0-0-1-X-X-1
Pitching – Hudson Wade, 3 IP, 3H, 4R, 3ER, 3K, 1BB. Dru Caldwell, 1.2 IP, 5H, 8R, 7ER, 3K, 3BB. Luke Martin, .1 IP, 2H, 2R.(RWA). Shykeim Homes, 5 IP, 6H, 1R, 0R, 2K, 2BB (FCHS).
Hitting: 1B – Luke Martin, Zack Taylor, Austin Lanvcaster (2), Jimmy McKeown, Hudson Wade (RWA). Chazzi Jones, Montavious Thompson, CJ Simmons (2), Jalen Jackson (2) Dylan Kurtz (FCHS). 2B – CJ Simmons (FCHS). 3B – Taylor Truesdale (2)(FCHS).
Indian Land 14, Fairfield 4
FCHS: 3-0-0-0-1-X-X-4
IL: 3-0-2-1-8-X-X-14
Pitching: Jay Hildreth, 5 IP, 3H, 4R, 3ER, 8K, 1BB (IL). CJ Simmons – 4 IP, 7H, 10R, 7ER, 4K, 5BB. Taylor Truesdale, 1 IP, 2H, 4R, 4ER, 0K, 4BB (FCHS).
Hitting: 1B – Trace White (3), Chase Dougherty, Jay Hildreth (2) (IL). Chazzi Jones (3) (FCHS). 2B – Chase Dougherty (IL). Jacob McManus (FCHS).