by Ryan Mosher
On Thursday, April 2, Berlin Senior Fred Morine pitched an excellent game on the road at Heatly but walked away with the loss after the Mountaineers’ defense let the game go to waste. The Mountaineers’ batsmen struggled again as well, getting just one hit and just one runner past second base. The home standing Hornets offense did not fare much better, as they recorded just one hit, a fourth inning single.
Morine pitched the complete game, allowing just the one hit while striking out eight and walking just one.
The senior hurler cruised through the first 2 2/3 innings, including striking out six straight, until errors handed Heatly three base runners and a run. Morine struck out the next batter to end the inning, but the damage was done. With two out in the fourth, Heatly got its only hit, but it did not hurt the Mountaineers as the next batter went down looking at strike three.
Berlin struggled to get base runners and struggled even more to advance them. The Mountaineers put their first two runners on in the second inning before two straight strikeouts put them in the hole. After loading the bases, another strikeout ended the threat completely.
The Hornets added another unearned run in the fifth inning to secure the 2-0 victory.