FOUR COUGARS TOSS NO-HITTER TO START SEASON
By BRYAN GRISHAM
CSCC Sports Information
HARRIMAN - Sunshine and temperatures in the mid 50's to start the
baseball season in early February would be more than one could ask
for, but that was the case as the Cleveland State Cougars opened
their 2013 baseball season on the road at Roane State. The Cougars
looked to be in mid-season form as they swept a doubleheader from
the Raiders, 6-0 in the first game and 8-3 in the second.
Any coach would take a shutout to start the season, but four Cougar
pitchers topped that in the first game as Thomas Huddleston,
Brandon Zajac, Bobby Towne and Andre Wilson combined to toss a
no-hitter. The Cougar hurlers struckout seven and walked five as
they completely dominated game one, start to finish.
"Couldn't ask for much more to start the year, it was a really good
start," stated Cougar coach Mike Policastro. "The four guys came
out and combined to throw a no-hitter, threw strikes and really
didn't have more than one runner on at any time."
Game one remained scoreless until the fourth frame when the Cougars
put a five spot on the board. Zach Janes got things started in the
top of the fourth with a single and later scored on a two run
double by Chase Edwards. Dalton Rogers and Colby Harmon each took
one for the team and later scored on an RBI single from DeAndre
Allen. A two-run single from Janes finished the outburst as the
visitors took a 5-0 lead.
Cody Hiefnar doubled in a run an inning later which would be more
than enough run support for the Cougar hurlers as Andre Wilson
finished the deal by retiring the side in the seventh to put game
one in the books. Zajac recored his first win as a Cougar while
Brock Simon took the loss for Roane.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in game two and never
looked back. An error, a wild pitch, a balk and an RBI single from
Michael Hargrove added up to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first.
Janes lifted a sacrifice fly in the second frame to push the Cougar
lead to 4-0.
The visitors tacked on two more in the fifth as Edwards doubled in
a run and Hiefnar singled in another while two Raider miscues
accounted for a single run in the sixth and seventh.
The Raiders finally broke through with a single run in the sixth on
an RBI single by Clay Fielden and then added two more in the
seventh as Max Valenti and Blake Paschal singled in a run
apeice.
Jeb Scoggins started and picked up the win for Cleveland State
(2-0) in game two, Derek Chandler tossed two scoreless innings
while Tyler Kilgore and Jordan Whitmire tossed the final three
frames. Casey Howard suffered the loss for the Raiders.
"I think we wound up with 18 hits on the day and you'll take that
any time, especially first time out," Policastro continued. "We
kind of broke things open in the first game with a five run inning
and then scored early in the second game. Overall a good day and
hopefully we can continue to build on this and get better as we
go."
The Cougars now turn their attention to the home opener at Cougar
Field on Saturday with a 1:00 twinbill and Sunday for a single game
at noon with Vincennes University.
