VERSAILLES – Cole Niekamp and Collin Peters combined to no-hit the Arcanum Trojans, leading Versailles to a 12-0 victory Monday afternoon.
The Tiger pitchers combined for five innings and used only 64 pitches to shut down the Trojans’ bats. This effort comes after Versailles no-hit Miami East in the Tigers’ season opener.
“Back to back no-hitters to start the year and hitting the way we did today is a very complete game we played today,” Versailles baseball coach Ryan Schlater said.
In addition to excellent pitching the Versailles offense made its presence known. The hitters combined for 11 hits mixed in with five walks and five stolen bases.
The Tigers broke open the scoreless game in the bottom of the second with a single run, built on a single and a steal by Kurtis Rutschilling and a two-out run-scoring single and stolen base by Jared Niekamp.
The Tigers broke open the game in the third. They sent 12 men to the plate, scoring seven times on five hits, two walks and three costly Arcanum errors. Three key hits in the inning were doubles struck by Rutschilling, Cole Niekamp and Jared Niekamp.
The Versailles fourth inning saw the Tigers add four more runs after two outs. The highlight of the frame was a two-run double by Keaton McEldowney to give the Tigers their final 12-0 margin.
The stolen base played a large role in moving men into scoring position in the game.
“We have a lot of speed,” Coach Schlater said. “If the catcher and pitcher times are where we like them, we’re going to steal all we can.”
“Fall behind in counts they’re going to hit the ball,” Arcanum coach Randy Baker said. “When our pitcher comes in throwing strikes and getting ground balls we didn’t make the plays.”
Kyle Subler was 2 for 4 for Versailles, scoring two runs and driving in two, and Jared Niekamp was 2 for 3, scoring two and driving in two. Cole Niekamp pitched four no-hit innings while striking out five and walking just one and got the win.
Versailles moves to 2-0 on the season. Arcanum is now 1-2.
