(From Madisonville)  Looking to inch even closer to that second first-round bye spot in next week's Ohio Valley League playoffs, the Madisonville Tradewater Pirates fell off the pace Thursday night thanks to the Fulton Railroaders importing their home park's home-run advantage to Elmer Kelley Stadium.

     Homers by Colton Simbeck and Taylor Douglas in the first four innings gave the Railroaders a big lead the Pirates couldn't overcome, as Fulton won 12-9 to increase their second-place lead to 2.5 games.

     "Those three runs proved to be the difference in the game," Pirates manager Steve Fowler said. "We didn't get the timely hits we needed."

     Tradewater scored four runs in the ninth to put the tying run on deck with two outs, but Joe Tipton's groundout finally ended the 3 1/2-hour affair. Falling short was theme of the night: the Pirates had gotten back to within 5-4 in the fifth after a 5-1 deficit, only to fall back down by the tune of 12-5 by the time they were down to their last three outs.

     "These guys aren't ready to quit," Fowler said.

     With Fulton down 1-0 on a Matt Sheneman RBI double, Simbeck led off the third with a solo shot to left center field. Douglas gave the Railroaders the lead for good on a one-out, two-run homer to make it 3-1 in the fourth, a lead that topped out at 5-1 in the fifth when Hunter Owen took advantage of an inning-extending error and two walks to single in two runs.

     Tradewater roused itself in the bottom of the frame, as Garrett Emling doubled in a run and Alfredo Bohorquez's sacrifice fly RBI netted two runs when the throw to the infield following the catch went out of play on the third-base side.

     But just when they had gotten the deficit down to a run at 5-4, the Pirates hit a wall. Robert Veltre flew out to left to end the fifth, and Fulton took back one of those runs back in the sixth on a Mark Skrzypiec RBI single.

     Tradewater loaded the bases with three straight two-out base runners in the bottom of the stanza, but stranded them when Dathan Prewett's bloop into shallow center was caught.

     Fulton then put the game away in the seventh, taking advantage of a Bohorquez throwing error to second on a fielder's choice. Owen, the next batter, made it a four-RBI night and an 8-4 game on his two-RBI double. Five batters later, Owen came home on Michael Diaz's single into left.

     Emling homered to bring the gap back to 9-5, but Ramon Valdez put the Railroaders in double-digits, run-wise, with his eighth-inning RBI triple, kicking off a three-spot. Emling singled in a run in the ninth, scoring on an error, with the Pirates' final runs plating on a double play and a subsequent wild pitch.

     Fulton ups its mark to 24-15, while the Pirates slip to 22-17. The Pirates play at league-leading Hoptown tonight.