WEST POINT, Ala. – Fairview traveled to West Point Monday night for a pair of varsity matchups and an unorthodox senior night ceremony. Both the Warriors and Aggies recognized their senior classes between games but between the lines, the night belonged to West Point. Aubry Cleghorn allowed just one hit on the mound to help lead the Warriors to a 2-0 win in game one and West Point plated five runs in the fifth to pull away from Fairview in game two 13-6.
West Point 2 – Fairview 0 (game one)
After Aubry Cleghron struck out three of the first four batters he faced, West Point took an early lead in the bottom half of the first. Will Cochran walked and Cleghorn singled to give the Warriors runners on the corners and Branson Smith singled into left field to score Cochran and make it 1-0. Just three pitches later, Chase Sibley singled into center field to score Cochran and stretch the lead to 2-0 going into the second.
That was all West Point needed to hold on to the lead as Cleghorn allowed just one hit the rest of the way and kept the Aggies off the board to secure a 2-0 win. Cleghorn struck out 14 batters in his seven innings of work.
Sibley (one RBI) led the Warriors with two hits and Smith (one hit) added an RBI as well.
West Point 13 – Fairview 6 (game two)
There were a lot more runs to go around in the second game of the night. Three walks and a hit batter gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and they continued to add to their early lead. After another walk stretched the lead to 2-0, a pair of RBI groundouts from Caden Jennings and Justin Hostetler put Fairview in front 4-0 going into the bottom of the first. Unfortunately for the Aggies, the Warriors would get it all back in their half of the inning.
Whitt Laney crossed the plate on an error to trim the lead to 4-1 and Will Cochran tagged up to score on a sacrifice fly from Aubry Cleghorn to make it a 4-2 game. Branson Smith then doubled into right field to cut the lead to one and an RBI groundout off the bat of Chase Sibley tied the game at 4 going into the second inning.
Fairview was held scoreless in the second but a single by Cooper Couch, followed by a hit batter, led to Couch scoring on a wild pitch and putting West Point on top 5-4 going into the third. After a scoreless third and fourth inning, the Warriors pulled away for good in the fifth.
A single by Laney and a double from Will Cochran led off the inning for West Point and they scored on back to back ground balls to extend the lead to 7-4. Smith later scored on an error to add to the lead and Levi Farley laced a single up the middle to score two more runs and give the Warriors a 10-4 lead. A fielder’s choice, an error and an RBI double from Smith extended the lead to 13-4 in the sixth and even though the Aggies were able to chip away and score a pair of runs in the seventh, it was too little, too late and West Point held on to win it 13-6.
Eli Folds went seven innings for the Warriors and picked up the win after allowing just one earned run on two hits and striking out 11 batters. Smith (two RBIs) led West Point with three hits in the win and Farley (one hit) and Brody Rusk each drove in a pair of runs as well. Cochran added a pair of hits for the Warriors.
Tanner Bennet, Caden Jennings, Will Bailey and Levi Garner each finished with RBIs in the loss.
Monday night’s games were the last for teams across the state as schools prepare to shut down for at least two and a half weeks to combat the spread of coronavirus.
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