Baseball Game Preview: Fairmont Firebirds vs. Springboro Panthers

The Fairmont Firebirds will head out on the road to challenge the Springboro Panthers at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The last four games Fairmont has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

The scorekeeper got an easy start on Tuesday as neither Fairmont nor Archbishop Moeller made it on the board until the sixth inning. The Firebirds fell just short of the Fighting Crusaders by a score of 6-5. That's two games in a row now that the Firebirds have lost by just one run.

Brayden Vance

Earned Runs

05/13/25 @ Archbishop Moeller	1
05/07/25 @ Miamisburg	1
04/30/25 vs Northmont	1
04/25/25 @ Beavercreek	0
04/18/25 vs Centerville	1

Brayden Vance was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he pitched 5.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Tyler Mastro made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one run.

Meanwhile, Springboro owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Thursday. They blew past Arcanum 6-0. The Panthers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won ten matches by six runs or more this season.

Bodie Abbott looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (three).

At the plate, Springboro's win was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Drew Davis, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Another was Ben Veletean, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and two RBI.

Springboro's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-8. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.3 runs over those games. As for Fairmont, their defeat dropped their record down to 13-13.

Fairmont was able to grind out a solid victory over Springboro in their previous meeting back in April, winning 6-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Firebirds since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.