Portsmouth senior shortstop Zach Roth

Courtesy of Randy and Joann Waugh

PORTSMOUTH — When you’re often dealing with the fire-breathing Fairland Dragons, sometimes a measure of revenge is indeed best served cold.

Or, at least on the chilled and damp side.

For the Portsmouth High School baseball team, under fifth-year head coach Aaron Duncan, his Trojans —after seven tries in the post-coronavirus era —finally did slay some Dragons.

That’s because, on Wednesday evening and into Wednesday night at a cooled Hatcher Field, the Trojans finally figured Fairland out —and scored at least one run in every inning sans the second, en route to a 14-6 football-like final in an Ohio Valley Conference clash.

Yes, that’s correct —Duncan’s Trojans were 0-7 against the Green clad Dragon clan, prior to Wednesday’s meeting in Portsmouth.

Last season, Fairland seized the OVC championship —rallying past Portsmouth to walk off and win at least a third consecutive conference title.

Two years ago, the two met a third time in the Southeast District Division III semifinals —and the Dragons pitched a 7-0 shutout.

But former Fairland coach Michael Hill had resigned after last season, and the Dragons got seemingly gutted by graduation losses.

The Trojans, which were the OVC runners-up, tallied 14 runs on 14 hits —and took full advantage of eight Fairland errors, along with a combined five walks, two hit batsmen, four wild pitches and multiple passed balls.

The Trojans plated a first-inning run on a Jacob Roth infield hit and a two-out Zach Roth RBI-single, then opened the proverbial floodgates from the third inning onward —with five runs in the third, four in the fourth, and two apiece in the fifth and sixth.

Portsmouth senior Deandre Berry

Courtesy of Randy and Joann Waugh

Portsmouth held leads of 6-0 after three, 10-2 after four, 12-5 after five, and 14-6 after six.

Of note, of the opening 10 runs which Portsmouth scored, only one was earned —as a passed ball factored into the opening point, as Jacob Roth advanced from first to second with two outs.

The only true 1-2-3 at-bat of the entire game came in the seventh — when Fairland faced Portsmouth senior southpaw pitcher Deandre Berry, who worked six batters of relief and struck out three.

Duncan said the Dragons had made the Trojans’ recent life resemble that of an 800-pound gorilla.

But now, no more.

“We played them (Dragons) last year for the OVC championship and had a one-run lead going into the last inning and couldn’t hold on. The year before that, we had a one-run lead into the last inning, and they battled and got a victory against us in the regular season. So this is a good win for our kids. This is one that we had marked and are excited to play. They have been the defending champs of this league for at least three years. So until somebody knocks them off…I know our kids are awfully excited to get this win,” said Duncan. “They played inspired in spite of the conditions. They were into the game and enthusiastic and energetic, and Fairland is an opponent that they want to play against and compete with and win.”

Portsmouth junior J.T. Williams

Courtesy of Randy and Joann Waugh

With win, PHS raised its record to 4-2 —and to 2-0 and atop the OVC after the opening week in April.

Duncan is skippering the Trojans for the fifth straight season — if you include 2020, which was canceled by the Ohio High School Athletic Association because of the coronavirus threat.

Fairland, which left eight runners on base, fell to 1-6 — and to 1-1 in the conference.

Both at the plate, and especially on the mound, it was quite the game for Portsmouth pitcher Jacob Roth.

Portsmouth sophomore pitcher Jacob Roth

Courtesy of Randy and Joann Waugh

The sophomore right-hander was the winner —working the first five and two thirds frames, with seven hits and five walks and six runs, but he struck out eight of the 24 Dragons he faced.

He saw the minimum three in the third, as Brycen Hunt had a leadoff single for Fairland —but Berry threw him out at second from right field, as Hunt tried to stretch the hit into a double.

Hunt had an infield hit and stolen base to lead off the game, but Roth recorded three consecutive outs in the first.

In the second, after the Trojans’ first of two errors and a walk, Roth roared back to strike out the next three.

He then walked the first three Dragons of the fourth, and a run raced home on his only wild pitch, but Roth minimized the damage —with three straight outs including a strikeout and a sacrifice fly.

Unofficially, Roth was at 113 pitches —having given up back-to-back one-out singles to Hunt and Kaden Wiseman when he exited.

When he did, and Berry relieved him in the sixth, a two-out walk loaded the bases — and Berry gave up his only hit.

But with Roth now at shortstop, he was the cutoff man on the relay throw from left field —and threw home to catcher Trevin Brooks, who tagged out the Dragon runner and prevented a seventh run.

Duncan praised the pitching performance from Roth, and the defensive effort behind him —which later included him.

“For me, this is a new group (of pitchers), so some of this is still spring training so to speak. I’ve had three all-state pitchers — Daewin Spence, Tyler Duncan and Vinnie Lonardo —in the last three years. So now we have some new guys. Deandre (Berry) surfaced for us last year, but he was a little late coming to the party this year because basketball went further in the tournament. Jacob Roth wanted the ball tonight, he tried to call me off from even taking him out when I did. But his pitching count was really close to the limit,” he said. “Jacob battled through some jams, and he walked a few more than what we would like, but we were able to make some plays behind him in the field. Then that was a good role for Deandre tonight to come in and throw strikes.”

Roth had three hits —a pair of infield singles, sandwiched around a triple to lead off the third.

He scored runs in innings one, three and six —and was hit by a pitch in the fourth, before walking in the sixth.

Duncan said his athletic and speedy Trojans tried to implement their gameplan of playing “Cincinnati Reds’ smallball”.

“That’s the name of our game. Baseball is the hardest game mentally to play of the three sports in high school —baseball, basketball and football. We have a lot of athletes. So what we preach is that if you get two strikes, put the ball in play. I want ground balls, not fly balls. I want the ball on the ground and I want to be able to steal bases and apply pressure. Our philosophy is ‘pressure versus pipes’. We have speed on the bases, and whenever you try to field the ball and throw it across the diamond perfectly, it forces a high school kid to be perfect to get some of our speed,” said the coach. “Some of their errors were unforced, but some were forced because they were worried about trying to throw out our fast runners. That’s the way we have to play. Our kids were able to put the bat on the ball.”

Alex Morgan was the losing Dragon pitcher —roughed up for 10 runs with only one earned in three and two-thirds.

He struck out six, but allowed eight hits and one walk with an intentional walk and two hit batsmen.

All four of Wiseman’s runs in relief were earned, as he scattered six hits with three walks and fanned three.

For Fairland’s standout senior Hunt, he had four hits with two runs scored —including a solo home run to left field to lead off the fifth and make it 10-3.

But the Trojans triumphed this time —serving up an OVC revenge dish best served on the cool side.

Portsmouth freshman Camron Williams

Courtesy of Randy and Joann Waugh

Portsmouth was scheduled to return home, and return to OVC action, on Friday against Coal Grove.

The Trojans then have a conference gauntlet of games next week.

“Good place to be at in the league so far, but next week will be a tough week in the OVC with Ironton, Gallia Academy and South Point,” said Duncan.

* * *

Fairland 000 231 0 —6 8 8

Portsmouth 105 422 X —14 14 2

FHS: Alex Morgan 3 2/3IP, 10R, 1ER, 8H, 2HB, 1BB, 1IBB, 2WP, 6K, 26BF; Kaden Wiseman 2 1/3IP, 4R, 4ER, 6H, 0HB, 3BB, 1IBB, 2WP, 3K, 15BF

PHS: Jacob Roth 5 1/3IP, 6R, 5ER, 7H, 0HB, 5BB, 0IBB, 1WP, 8K, 24BF; Deandre Berry 1 2/3IP, 0R, 0ER, 1H, 0HB, 1BB, 0IBB, 0WP, 3K, 6BF

W —Jacob Roth; L —Alex Morgan

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved