Rockets rout Kuntz Motor Company, 13-1 | Sports - The Courier-Express

DuBOIS — A one-hit gem from starting pitcher Braiden Blair paired with a nine-run bottom of the first led DuBois to a 13-1 victory in six innings over Kuntz Motor Company at Showers Field Sunday evening.

Blair was dominant over the first five innings on the mound, allowing just one base runner through that stretch on a one-out walk in the second inning.

After forcing the leadoff batter in the top of the sixth to groundout to short, Josh Shaffer reached on a walk before Tyler Libby reached on an error to put two runners on with one away.

After Blair struck out the following batter, Spencer Hoover hit a bloop single into shallow left field as Shaffer narrowly beat a throw to the plate to score Kuntz Motors’ lone run of the game.

Hunter Tkacik then drew a walk to load the bases before Blair picked him off at first to end the inning.

“He (Blair) came right at them with fastballs early and he was pumping strikes all day long and wasn’t behind in many counts,” DuBois manager Jeff Gasbarre said. “Through five innings his pitch count was probably in the 60s, so he threw phenomenally all day.”

With Blair shutting things down on the defensive side, the Rockets’ bats got off to a hot start in the big first inning.

After a fly out on the infield started the frame, Josh Sorbera started things off by singling to left before moving around to third on a pair of wild pitches.

Zane Morgan then reached on an infield single to third to bring home Sorbera for the game’s first run.

Kuntz Motors starter Chase Graham then forced a fly out to second for the second out of the inning before the next eight DuBois batters reached base with two outs.

Cory Lehman started the two-out rally with a single to left to plate Morgan before Luke Salvo drew a walk and Gasbarre drove the first pitch he saw into right for a single to score Lehman.

Jake Sorbera and John White then hit back-to-back RBI single to score Salvo and Gasbarre, respectively before the order turned back over to Clayton Read, who drew a walk to load the bases.

Josh Sorbera then drove a pitch into left, as an error by the left fielder allowed Jake Sorbera and White to score while Read moved around to third and Josh Sorbera advanced to second.

Morgan then reached on his second infield single of the inning, this time to short, as he drove in Read on the play while Josh Sorbera scored the final run of the inning on an arrant throw as the Rockets took a 9-0 lead after the first.

“This is a deep offense, early on we were aggressive and all nine guys drove the baseball today,” Gasbarre said.

DuBois added a run to its lead in the second when Lehman singled to right-center to lead off the frame before eventually scoring when Gasbarre singled to left and the ball got by the left fielder.

After the visitors broke up the no-hitter and plated their lone run of the game to bring the score to 10-1 after five and a half innings, the Rockets pushed across three runs in the home half of the sixth to end the game behind the 12-run rule.

Morgan started the inning off with a single to right, as Lehman and Salvo later hit back-to-back one-out singles to load the bases.

Recommended Video

Austin Amacher then drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Morgan before Kuntz Motor Company reliever struck out the following batter as he looked to send the game into the seventh.

Instead, White put an end to the contest by hitting a bloop single to left field to plate Lehman and Salvo for the game-ending runs.

Both teams are back in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. as DuBois hosts Spike Island while Kuntz Motor Company plays host to PGP.

DuBOIS 13,

KUNTZ MOTORS 1, 6 innings

Score By Innings

Kuntz Motors 000 001 — 1

DuBois 910 003 — 13

* There were 2 outs when the game-ending run scored

Kuntz Motors—1

Spencer Hoover c 3011, Chase Graham p 2000, Hunter Tkacik ph 0000, Jeremiah Farley p 0000, Shane Sunderlin ss-p 2000, Hunter Hipps 1b-p 2000, Ike Graham 1b 1000, James Stiles eh 0000, Jayson Rowles 3b 2000, Tyler Lee 2b-ss 2000, Josh Shaffer dh 1100, Logan Kunkle rf 0000, Scott Condon lf 1000, Tyler Libby ph 1000, Chris Fegert cf 2000. Totals: 19-1-1-1.

DuBois—13

Clayton Read ss 3100, Josh Sortera 2b-3b 3210, Zane Morgan cf-1b 3232, Sean Sleigh dh 2000, Gabe Bembenic cr-ph 1000, Braiden Blair p 0000, Cory Lehman lf 4331, Luke Salvo c 3210, Jeff Gasbarre 1b 2121, Austin Amacher ph-2b 1001, Jake Sorbera rf 4111, John White 3b-cf 3123. Totals: 29-13-13-9.

Errors: Kuntz Motors 3, DuBois 1. LOB: Kuntz Motors 3, DuBois 4. SB: Morgan, Lehman 2. PO: Tkacik (by Blair).

Kuntz Motors: Chase Graham-1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO; Shane Sunderlin-2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO; Hunter Hipps-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO; Jeremiah Farley-2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.

DuBois: Braiden Blair-6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO.

Winning pitcher: Blair. Losing pitcher: Graham.

Recommended for you