Hunter pitches Lehighton to victory

Kyle Hunter and the rest of his Lehighton Legion team have definitely seen their fair share of baseball in the last eight days.

In fact, Lehighton hasn't had a day of rest since opening day of its Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League season last week.

That type of schedule leaves very little room for a team to recover from a loss.

Friday night, however, Hunter and his Lehighton teammates showed it is possible to recover from a loss when you take advantage of the strengths in your roster.

"It's definitely a lot of games in a short span, but we have a deep pitching staff," said Hunter. "It really helps out. We have nine guys who are able to throw from the mound.

"So, we get a fair share of rest before our next start. And, when it's our turn to throw again, we come ready to throw."

A day after losing at Coplay, Hunter definitely took advantage of his chance on the mound as Lehighton hosted a rematch.

The righthander combined with Tyler Harris for a two-hit 5-0 shutout victory against Coplay.

"They're definitely a good team," Hunter said. "They showed us last (Thursday) night by beating us 7-1. With they way they beat us, we wanted to definitely show up today and return the favor and we did."

After having a hard time scoring runs at Sammy Balliet Stadium the night before, Lehighton didn't take long to jump on Coplay's starting pitcher Pat Bet over the first two innings.

After Hunter struck out the side in opening half inning of the game, Jacen Nalesnik and Casey Lawrence gave their starting pitcher some quick run support with RBI singles.

In the second inning, Lehighton gave Hunter three more runs to work with. After Ryan Porembo scored on a wild pitch, Greg Pecha followed with a two-run single.

Lehighton manager George Zellers was very happy with the way his team rebounded.

"They know they can compete," Zellers said. "They can compete with anybody. I think they simply had trouble with the lights Thursday night. We don't hit when we play at Coplay. They sort of have an advantage because it's their home field and they are used to playing under the lights.

"But today they came around as a team. We left too many runners on last night. I think we left 11 runners in scoring position. Tonight, only three. We played a good game as a team. We played well behind Hunter, who thew a phenomenal game."

Hunter finished with eight strikeouts, allowed two walks and surrendered both hits a third-inning single to Derek Herman and a fourth-inning triple to Christian Marcin, of Palmerton on his way to earning the pitching victory.

Now, Lehighton (6-4 overall) has a busy weekend with a doubleheader this afternoon at Emmaus and another doubleheader at Fullerton on Sunday. Coplay slips to 8-4 on the season with the loss.

"With these games everyday, it can be tough," Zellers said. "By Sunday, we will have 14 games in in a matter of 10 days. They're hanging in there. Six wins out of those is pretty good."

Coplay 000 000 0 - 0 2 1

Lehighton 230 000 x - 5 7 0

Bet, Brookswell (4) and Gerhard; Hunter, Harris (7) and Nalesnik. W - Hunter. L - Bet.