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TORONTO -- Chris Parker hurled a five-inning no-hitter, and eight of nine position players hit safely, as the Toronto Post 86 Legion baseball club walloped Weirton Post 10, 17-1, on Friday.
The game was scheduled to be played at Ed Bowman Field in Weirton, but Thursday's rain made it impossible to get the field ready for play, so it was moved to Toronto, with Post 10 playing as the home team.
"We hit the ball tonight, finally," said Post 86 coach Greg Herrick, whose club pounded out 18 hits. "And, Chris Parker did a great job. He's a young kid, going to be a junior. He didn't get to pitch much for Toronto High because they had some older, more experienced pitchers. So, we're trying to get him some pitching time and experience this summer so he can help the Red Knights next spring."
Post 10 scored a run in the first inning when Parker issued back-to-back walks to Andrew Goettel and Luke Beatty, followed by a sacrifice fly to center field by Joey Dawson. After that, the lanky southpaw mowed down the West Virginians in order in the second and third.
Parker ran into a little trouble in the fourth inning when he again walked two in a row (Beatty and Dawson) to lead off the inning. This time, he induced a flyout by Nick Leonard. Riley Nolan reached on a fielder's choice, as Toronto forced Dawson at second. Tyler Maczko, the Post 10 starting pitcher, then grounded out.
"It is tough to play short-handed like we have been doing lately," said Post 10 coach Jason Swartzmiller, who had only nine players for the game. "We had a couple guys with legitimate excuses for not being here, but it is unfortunate that with the 19 guys we had on the roster to start the season we are struggling to field a team. People seem to be undedicated or just care less. It hurts me, but it hurts these nine guys that want to play baseball even more when they have to lose by this score.
"But, we ran into a tough pitcher tonight. Parker threw a great game. He threw strikes for the most part and, when we hit the ball hard, it was right at one of his fielders. They had a couple of nice defensive plays, too."
Herrick said that defense has been a problem with his club, which now is 4-7.
"We had one little bobble on defense, but we had good play from everyone tonight, and I'm really glad to see the bats come alive," he said.
Toronto jumped on Maczko early, as the first four batters that came to the plate in the top of the first inning scored. Brandon Boyd, who had three hits in three official at-bats, started it off with a leadoff single to left. Kobe Herrick drilled a shot through the middle and Conrad Gump, who was 4-for-5 at the plate, followed with a hit to center field, loading the bases.
Designated batter Zac Berger cleaned the sacks with a triple inside the right-field foul line and later scored himself on a fielder's choice grounder by Nick Chetock.
Post 86 broke the game open, as nine batters went to the plate in each of the third and fourth innings, plating five and six runs, respectively.
In the third inning, Herrick and Gump had back-to-back doubles, with Herrick driving home a run and Gump two. Bodnar had a run-scoring single, and Chetock drove one home with a single.
Post 86 got run-scoring hits from Boyd, Berger, Bodnar, Chetock and Kerner in the fourth inning. Boyd's hit was a double to left field.
Toronto's final two runs came in the fifth inning, with Boyd starting the rally with his second double in as many at-bats. He trotted home when the Post 10 infield turned a double play with the bases loaded, and Bodnar knocked in Herrick, who reached when he was hit by a pitch from Post 10 relief hurler Nate Elias.
Berger finished with five runs batted in, and Bodnar drove home three.
Swartzmiller's club now has won four of 18 games and will play a doubleheader today at Moundsville Post 3. One of the games will be a makeup of a game last week that was to be played in Weirton, and Post 10 will be the home team.
Meanwhile, Post 86 will host St. Clairsville today.
Toronto 17, Weirton 1
Toronto 4-0-5 6-2 -- 17-18-1
Weirton 1-0-0 0-0 -- 1-0-1
TORONTO: Parker (wp, 0H, 1ER, 4K, 4W) and Gump.
WEIRTON: Maczko (lp, 3IP, 1K, 3W), Elias (0K, 2W) and Beatty.
TWO OR MORE HITS: Toronto (Boyd 3, Herrick 2, Gump 4, Berger 2, Bodnar 3, Chetock 2); Weirton none. DOUBLES: Toronto 4 (Boyd 2, Herrick, Gump); Weirton none. TRIPLES: Toronto 1 (Berger); Weirton none. HOME RUNS: none. RBIs: Toronto (Berger 5, Bodnar 3, Gump 2, Chetock 2, Boyd, Herrick, Kerner, Ramsey); Weirton (Dawson).