By Skip Weaver

Contributing writer

For the second straight game, Middletown built a lead then had to hang on to grasp the victory.

The Middies did it on Thursday with a 9-6 win over Greater Miami Conference foe Fairfield a day after hanging on to defeat La Salle 6-5.

The Middies beat the Indians on the backs of pitcher Andrew Lykins, who threw six solid innings of six-hit baseball  for his second win, and senior right fielder Matt Current, who was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a three-run home run and four RBIs on the day.

“I was just feeling it today I guess,” said Current, who raised his team-leading batting average to .591.

Current’s home run came in the first inning to put the Middies up early 3-0. With one out, Jacob Burton and Jonathan Stone each singled bringing Current to the plate. He sent the second pitch he saw over the right-field fence for his first blast of the season.

“I actually thought it was going foul,” Current said. “I just stood there for a second, but it carried over.

“This is my best game of the season so far. I’m looking forward to having a few more like it,” added Current, who is committed to play football at Augsburg College in Minneapolis but admits he plans to try out for their baseball team too.

So is his coach Rick Blyberg.

“He’s been on fire since day one,” Blyberg said. “He’s just in a groove and everybody is following his lead.”

Blyberg called the win “huge” because it broke a tie with the Indians in the GMC race. Thee Middies are hanging near the top with a 4-01 mark in the GMC. They are 6-3 overall.

“Middletown has a potent 2-3-4 in their lineup,” Fairfield coach Adam Reed said (as his squad drops to 5-2, 3-2 GMC). “Current was the catalyst that got them going today, so give them all the credit in the world. When we made mistakes, they capitalized and that was the difference in the game.”

Fairfield didn’t go down easily, however. With the Middies staked to a four-run lead in the top of the seventh inning, the Indians loaded the bases on two hit batsman and an error, but succeeded in only getting one of those runs home before the game ended.

“In the end, we just didn’t get the clutch hit we needed,” Reed said. “Every time we knocked on the door, they shut it on us.”

In addition to Current, Burton was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored.

Chris Rossi and Erich Lange each had two hits for the Indians.

The two teams will meet again on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in their Reds Futures game at Prasco Park.

Click here to see more on Middies hang on for GMC win.

BOXSCORE

Fairfield                021         002         1              -              6              6              1

Middletown       300         213         x              -              9              11           3

WP – Andrew Lykins (2-1)

LP – Alex Potunas

HR – Middletown: Matt Current