FAIRMONT — East Fairmont plays four of their next five games on the road. But before setting off on their extended road trip, the Bees got to treat their home fans to a ship-righting 6-1 win against the South Harrison Hawks Monday night.

After sliding through a five-game skid, East got nine strikeouts from Connor Tingler, who picked up the win after throwing six innings of one-run ball. After walking the first batter he saw in the seventh, the Bees brought in Tristan Boone to get three outs and protect a five-run lead.

South’s Dylan Richards got a good piece of a pitch, and sent a bullet to third base — but East third baseman Carter Brown showed off some quick reflexes and plucked the liner out of the air for an out. The man on first, meanwhile, was caught between the bases. Brown’s throw to first was just in time for the double play. Boone did the rest, striking out Josh Thomaschek to pull the curtains on the game.

“Ting was around the plate all day today,” East Fairmont head coach Joe Price said. “Relied on his defense at times and they came through. Had the strikeouts, got a lot of swings and misses. Pitched well, very well, and then Boone came in and shut the door, got another nice double play. Line drive to our third baseman [Carter Brown], doubles him up at first.

“It’s a headsy play, it’s great to see. Kid put a good swing on it but sometimes things happen like that.”

The Bees pulled off another double play earlier in the game, one much different than Brown’s turn in the seventh.

With East up 4-0 after two innings, South Harrison had men on first and second to start the third, and no outs. The Hawk’s Nathan Radcliff sent a fly ball deep to right field, but Ian Graffius was able to track it down on the run for an out. The runner on second was easily able to tag to third, but South wanted a little more out of the play, and sent the runner from first to try and tag to second base.

Graffius beamed a throw to Joey Alvaro, who’d come out to shallow grass as the cut off man. Alvaro’s throw to second was just as quick, and the attempted tag from first resulted in a double play for East.

“Ian made a great play in that instance,” Price said. “Great throw to the cut guy, that’s something we get these guys to work on every day is hit the cut man, double them up, you can’t ask for more than that. Outfield played very good defense today.”

Outfield defense was a point of strength for East all day, starting from the top of the first. Centerfielder Clay Hershberger covered a ton of ground to make a catch on the run in the right-center gap and get the third out.

The Bees stung the Hawks for a run in the bottom of the first, with Tingler smacking a single through the left side of the infield that scored Carter Brown from second base.

Tingler kept rolling after retaking the mound, striking out the side, getting the first batter looking and the next two swinging.

Tingler’s nine strikeouts were not his season-high, but it was another strong performance from the East ace. South managed just three hits against him through six innings, while the junior walked seven batters.

The bottom of the second would bode well for the Bees. Joey Alvaro started the frame with a single up the middle, and while Conner Graffius tried to give himself up on a sacrifice bunt, a throwing error allowed him to make it all the way to second, and got Alvaro to third.

After a pop-out, Hershberger was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Carter Brown rolled a ground ball to the third baseman, who made the force-out at his bag, but couldn’t do so in time to turn a double-play, or stop Alvaro from scoring from third to home.

Another batter hit by a pitch loaded the bases once more, and with two outs, Kaynan Coleman came through with a single to left field that scored Hershberger and Brown, and gave East a 4-0 lead.

After Ian Graffius and Joey Alvaro combined for a double-play in the top of the third, Jakob Vincent brought in the Bees’ fifth run of the game by legging out a triple down the first base line. Alvaro scored from second after having previously been hit by a pitch.

Nathan Radcliff drove in South’s only run of the game in the top of the fifth. After Brevan Robinson slid safely into third on a triple, Radcliff punched a single up the middle to bring him home.

Clay Hershberger has made a habit of causing havoc on the base paths and single-handedly manufacturing runs, and he did so again on Monday in the bottom of the sixth.

After ripping a double to centerfield, Hershberger took off for third on the first pitch of the next at-bat. The senior would’ve been in safely, but he was able to get even more out of the play after the throw to third base was too wide, and ended up in left field. Hershberger crossed the plate and put East up 6-1.

A double-play and strikeout later, East was back in the win column.

The Bees got all six of their runs from three members of their squad Monday, with Hershberger, Alvaro and Brown all getting in for two runs apiece.

The Bees will not be back on their home field until next Friday for their senior night game against Clay Battelle. With the win, East moves to 8-11 on the season, and the Bees are determined to put together a late-season push, one day at a time.

“We’re not satisfied,” Price said of his team’s hitting Monday. “We had 18 quality at-bats today, which is very good. I was impressed with that, but I think we need to square the ball up a little bit more.

“Something I said to the guys tonight — it’s the team that gets hot at the right time. These guys have been playing very well, and they’ve come up on the short end of some things the last couple games, but they’ve been playing very well. It was great to get a break-through win here, proud of the guys — 1-0 today, 0-0 tomorrow. We’ll enjoy this one tonight and turn our focus to Elkins tomorrow.”

Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.

Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.

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