The Fayette baseball team traveled to Harrisburg on Thursday, hoping their Highway 124 neighbors would be just what the doctor ordered for the ailing team. But that was not to be as the Bulldogs defeated the Falcons 11-1 in a game that was stopped after five innings.

Junior pitcher Tyler Bartholomew started and took the loss for the Falcons. 

After shutting Harrisburg down in the first inning Bartholomew helped himself out with a single but was stranded when Harrisburg sophomore pitcher Anthony Alicea struck out three in the inning.

After surrendering only one run in the second, things looked promising for the visiting Falcons. But two walks, a single by freshman Carter Bremer, and a double by sophomore Logan Fritts put the Bulldogs up by one run after the second inning. 

The bottom of the fourth turned sour very quickly for Fayette as the first three batters for Harrisburg, sophomore Brayden Ott, senior Wyatt Robinson, and Alicea, all reached base and scored. After a flyout to center, Braden Wyatt reached base on a single and later scored. Fayette sophomore Haden Kelly took the mound in relief and induced a groundout to second by Bulldog sophomore Austin Darwent.

Harrisburg scored two more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Fayette senior Zane Rice took a walk and stole second, then scored on Bartholomew’s RBI single.

In the bottom of the fifth, Harrisburg put the game out of reach with four more runs thus putting the 10-run rule into effect.

The Falcons were able to scratch out three hits against the Bulldogs, two singles by Bartholomew and one by Kelly, while the Bulldogs secured six hits.

Harrisburg Pitcher Anthony Alicea had seven strikeouts, giving up only three hits.

Friday, the Falcons took the long drive to Schuyler 

 County. This would not result in a win either as the Rams would defeat the Falcons 14-4 in another game shortened by the 10-run rule.

Fayette struck first as sophomore DH Gage Sulltrop drew a leadoff walk. He then stole second to score on teammate Haden Kelly’s single to left.

The Fayette lead was short-lived as the Rams would send eight batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs. The first batter singled, the second batter doubled, and the third cleared the bases with a three-run home run.To add insult to injury, the cleanup hitter stepped up and belted another home run to make the score 4-1. After walking the next batter, sophomore pitcher Haden Kelly settled into a groove and struck out the next three batters to end the inning.

Schuyler County would add three in the second, four in the third, and three in the fourth before Fayette could push three runs across in the fifth to cut the lead to 14-4. That was not enough to prolong the game as Schuyler county was still ahead by10.

 Sulltrop was 1-2 and scored a run while classmate Kelly was 2-3 with a run scored, and sophomore Jayden Shiflettt added a single. Senior Zane Rice singled while sophomore Mason Sappington went 2-2 and scored a run.