Clutch hits were hard to come by for Riverside’s baseball team Friday as the host Pirates fell to Houston 8-2 in a Division IV sectional semifinal game.

Riverside’s Austin Daniels waits to tag a Houston player at second as the Pirates’ Blaine Dixon looks on during Friday’s Division IV sectional tournament game at Riverside High School. EXAMINER PHOTO | DANICA RISNER

 Houston jumped out with two runs in the opening inning and held a 2-0 lead until the top of the sixth, when the Wildcats plated two more runs to take a 4-0 lead.

Riverside scored its first run in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 4-1. However, Houston responded with four runs in the top of the seventh to open up some more breathing room.

Houston finished with 10 hits and the Pirates had eight hits.

“I thought Garrett (Fairchild) pitched well,” said Kilgore. “He battled and did a good job for us. We had a couple of defensive mistakes that hurt us, though.”

Avery Smith and Kyle Herron each had two hits and Mike Seeling added a double for the Pirates.

Riverside wraps up its season with a 10-11 record.

“Our season didn’t finish the way we would have liked, but the thing I’ll remember about these guys is they never quit,” said Kilgore. “Even in our losses we went down swinging. This was a great group of guys and I had a lot of fun coaching them.”

HOUSTON 8, RIVERSIDE 2
Wildcats 200 002 4 — 8 10 1
Pirates 000 001 1 — 2 8 4
Gordon and Holthaus; Fairchild, Seeling (7) and Ehresmann. WP—Gordon; LP—Fairchild.

REGULAR SEASON
WL-Salem trips Trojans

West Liberty-Salem wrapped up Ohio Heritage Conference play Friday with a 5-3 victory at Southeastern.

The Tigers are now 21-7 overall and finish second in the OHC with a 12-2 mark.

Friday’s game acted as a tune up for the Tigers’ sectional final game Monday against Anna.

“I think we had a little bit of a letdown from Thursday’s tournament game (a 12-2 win over Miami East),” said WL-Salem head coach Toby Smith. “We did a lot of things that we have to get corrected for Monday.”

Ryan Ropp was 2-4 with a double to lead the hitting effort for the Tigers. Garrett Dallas and Zach Konkle each added doubles.

Tyler Hayes went the distance on the mound to get the win for WL-Salem.

The Tigers battle Anna in the Division III sectional final at 5 p.m. Monday at Northmont High School.

WL-SALEM 5, SOUTHEASTERN 3
Tigers 110 210 0 — 5 7 1
Trojans 001 110 0 — 3 6 2
Hayes and Reed; Woods, Cooper (4) and Cain. WP— Hayes; LP—Woods.

Cougars earn outright title with win over Lakers

Visiting Kenton Ridge wrapped up the outright Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail division championship Friday with a 15-6 win over Indian Lake.

The Lakers fall to 14-12 overall and 5-10 in the CBC.

It was the second time in as many days that the Lakers played the Cougars. Kenton Ridge won 5-3 on Thursday in a sectional tournament game.

This time, Kenton Ridge won in more comfortable fashion. The Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first.

Indian Lake climbed back to within two runs after four innings, but the Cougars pulled away in the final innings. Matt Yanchik was 2-4, Nick Bozman was 2-5 with an RBI and D.J. Postle went 2-3 with an RBI to power the Indian Lake bats.

Matt Johnson chipped in with a double and two RBI for the Lakers.

Indian Lake wraps up its season Monday with a league game at Benjamin Logan.

KENTON RIDGE 15, INDIAN LAKE 6
Cougars 600 207 0— 15 12 2
Lakers 120 300 0 — 6 12 3
McDuffie, Lingo (4), Sharpin (7) and Black; Draper, Bickham (1), Jacobs (5), Maier (6) and Yanchik. WP— McDuffie; LP—Draper.