Birches no-hit by Nazareth

Nazareth’s Ryan Pitts silenced the Birches bats Friday evening, throwing a no-hitter to lead his team to a 4-0 NorCo Legion victory.

Pitts struck out 16 during his gem, allowing only the leadoff batter to reach second base in his dominant victory.

The Birches had a tough time making contact as Pitts added to his strikeout total throughout the game.

“We have to put the ball in play,” Birches head coach Butch Foust said. “We have way too many strikeouts. We have a young team here with a lot of 10th graders and they’re learning right now.

“Our pitching has been very good and kept us in the game again. We’ve been in every game all year, but the team is young.”

Nazareth got on the board in the second inning with two runs, one thanks to an RBI single from Austin Hahn. The winners added tallies in the third and sixth innings to give Pitts more than enough support.

The game was well-played defensively, as each team committed just one error in the contest.

“We worked mostly on defense because they’re a young team,” said Foust. “We want to make the plays that don’t cost the pitchers to throw more pitches.

“We’re still working on hitting. They’re getting better with their hitting, but today’s pitcher was just a great pitcher. We faced him the first time around, and it was the same situation.”

Although Nazareth put up four runs in the game, they only did it on three hits.

Justin Zerfass slapped a double into right-center field and Kolby Robertson added a single before the extra-base hit from Zerfass in the sixth.

Birches pitcher Mychal Kearns was on the losing end of the effort. Kory Kearns relieved his brother in the seventh after the Nazareth damage was already done.

Foust’s club has four wins on the season, but the crazy weather in June forced many postponements. Now, the Birches are playing catch-up to get their schedule completed.

“We only have four wins,” Foust said. “We’re OK with the games, but we’ve been playing four games in a week. We’re a little bit light on pitching; we have a few good pitchers.

“When you have to play four games in a week because of the rainouts, it doesn’t make it easy.”

It will be another short turnaround for the Birches when they face Nazareth again in their next game on Sunday.

STRIKEOUTS, STRIKEOUTS, STRIKEOUTS … Pitts recorded multiple strikeouts on six different Birches batters.

CHANGE OF SCENERY … Sunday’s game for the Birches will be played on the road at Nazareth.

DOMINANT HURLER ... Nazareth defeated the Birches by a 4-1 score the first time the two teams played. Pitts also pitched in that game, finishing with a three-hitter and 12 strikeouts.

Nazareth 021 001 0 - 4 3 1

Birches 000 000 0 - 0 0 1

Pitts and Stivala; M. Kearns, K. Kearns (7) and Gethens. W - Pitts. L - M. Kearns.