Bluefield won the first of its three-game set with Ohio State-Lima on Monday afternoon at Bowen Field.

The Rams improved to 9-12 on the season as it nears the end of a stretch of six home games in four days.

The Barons (1-2) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, when Derrick Pease singled to centerfield to bring in Codie Roberts.

Bluefield wasted no time getting that run back. Zach Russell-Myers legged out a triple to right-centerfield, and two batters later, Jacob Wright doubled to tie the game.

Wright put the Rams on top with a single in the third inning that scored Christian Burton.

Bluefield padded its lead in the fourth inning, beginning with an RBI-single by Burton. Russell-Myers tripled to bring in two more runs in the next at-bat. Kahlin Villines pushed the lead to 5-1 with a single to score Russell-Myers.

OSU-Lima plated one run in the top of the fifth, but the Rams padded its lead in the seventh. Jamie Blackwell singled to leftfield, scoring Chris Rosa from second. Two batters later, Blackwell came in on a hit by Trevor Martin to put the Rams ahead 8-2.

The Barons made it interesting in the top of the ninth, with some aid from a couple of Blueifeld errors. OSU-Lima scored five runs before Anthony Garza came out of the bullpen to get the final out with the potential tying run on second base.

Kyle Long (3-1, 6.86 ERA) earned the win on a strong 7-inning start on the mound, giving up two earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out a career-high 11. His previous high was seven against Hiwassee in February.

Mark Gallimore came in to pitch in the eighth inning, getting the Barons to go down 1-2-3. He went 1.2 innings and surrendered two earned runs on three hits and one walk.

Anthony Garza earned his third save of the season.

Wright was 3-4 with two RBIs. Russell-Myers went 2-5 with a pair of triples and two RBIs.

Pease accounted for three of OSU-Lima's eight hits, and had a pair of RBIs.

Tyler Blumentritt was handed the loss, going 5 innings on the mound and giving up six runs on 11 hits. He struck out five Rams.

The Rams and Barons return to the field for a double-header scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

Monday's game was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but the time was moved up due to impending rain forecasted for the area.