by Ryan Mosher
In the first game of their season, the Berlin baseball team did not put up much of a fight against Hoosic Valley, as the Indians routed the visiting Mountaineers 20-1. Hoosic Valley’s starting pitcher, Alex Kugler limited this young Berlin team to just 4 hits
through his 6 innings, while striking out 9. Berlin only returns four players from last year’s squad and is relying on a large class of freshmen to get them through the season. The returners were the only bright spot for the Mountaineers, as they collected three of the four hits and accounted for just two of the eleven strikeouts in the game.
Kugler ran through Berlin his first time through the lineup, as he struck out 5 of the first 9 batters. After sitting down the first seven batters of the game, he finally relinquished his first hit to Berlin sophomore catcher Matt Berish who singled. In the Hoosic Valley side of the game, things were pretty much the opposite. The Indians pushed one run across in the first and then exploded in the third inning, taking advantage of four walks, four hits and four errors to score 9 runs and take a 10-0 lead.
The following inning was more trouble for Berlin as Hoosic Valley exploded for another 7 runs, added two more in the fifth and a final run in the sixth inning. The Mountaineers were able to get on the board in the sixth inning. After a one out single by Fred Morine, Scott Bamba drilled an RBI double to keep the Mountaineers from being shut out.
The Mountaineers play again Thursday at Heatly, Monday home against Doane Stuart and Wednesday at New Lebanon.