Fairchild’s Strong Start Guides Cleburne to Win

CLEBURNE, Texas (Aug. 23, 2021) – Austin Fairchild fired 4.1 scoreless innings in a spot start, helping the Cleburne Railroaders to a 6-1 win over the Sioux Falls Canaries on Monday night at The Depot at Cleburne Station.

Making his first start since July 27, Fairchild allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out four. He left with one out in the top of the fifth and Cleburne leading 3-0, handing the ball off to Emerson Martinez (1-0) who escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a double play.

Martinez and three other Cleburne relievers took a shutout into the ninth before a Shamoy Christopher two-out RBI single finally got Sioux Falls (34-54) on the board.

The Cleburne offense made the most of their opportunities early, scratching across a pair of runs in the third inning against Canaries starter Charlie Hasty (2-4) to take the game’s first lead. After Hunter Clanin started the inning with a single, Colton Pogue roped an RBI triple into the right field corner to get the scoring started. Two batters later, Alay Lago lined a sacrifice fly that doubled the lead to 2-0.

Another sacrifice fly from Zach Nehrir in the bottom of the fourth made it 3-0, and then Cleburne (46-40) put the game away in the seventh with three two-out runs. Lago, Osvaldo Martinez and Ramon Hernandez each racked up an RBI single to extend the margin to 6-0. Hernandez’s RBI was his 93rd of the season, matching the single-season franchise record established by Chase Simpson in 2019.

With the win, Cleburne now holds a one-and-a-half game lead for third place in the South Division standings, while trailing second place Lincoln by just a half game. 

Game two of the series against the Canaries is scheduled for 7:06 PM on Wednesday, with left-hander Michael Gunn (4-4, 5.48) going up against righty Joey Wagman (1-1, 4.15). 

For information on partnerships, season tickets, group outings, and party packages, call the Railroaders main office at (817) 945-8705, or visit the Railroaders official website at www.railroaderbaseball.com.