St. Marys' Roop, Young no-hit Cards in 6-0 win

NEW BREMEN - St. Marys pitchers Chase Roop and Josh Young battled through persistent rain showers during their stints on the mound Monday night against New Bremen.

They were showered with praise instead when the game was complete.

The duo combined on a no-hitter and rang up 13 Cardinals in a 6-0 victory. Roop started and recorded 10 strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings and Young completed the job over the final 2 2/3 innings.

"There were times when they both went through stretches - Chase especially - where they're throwing strikes, throwing around the zone even with tough conditions," St. Marys coach Jeff Dieringer said. "I thought they both did a great job staying around the strike zone."

"Obviously, both pitchers tonight for St. Marys did a very good job," New Bremen coach Chad Wells said. "They came right at us. They got ahead early. They pitched through some adverse conditions with the rain."

The Roughriders made the score 1-0 in the first inning on four walks by New Bremen starter Owen Leugers. Leadoff man Tristan Becker trotted home after Michael Hastreiter drew a walk.

St. Marys didn't get its first hit until Hastreiter's single to open the top of the fourth. St. Marys took a 2-0 lead when Becker's fly ball drove in pinch-runner Michael Eberle from third base. Later in the inning, Nathan Wilker roped a three-run double to left to make the score 5-0.

"The difference was we walked people and they didn't," Wells said. "They got one big hit. We didn't."

"It's a credit to New Bremen," Dieringer said. "I mean, the game is tight to that point, and that hit kind of expanded the lead and got us to a point where the guys could really relax. Guys are having some confidence and that's good to see. Now that's got to continue on into our league schedule."

Roop struck out the side in the first inning. He walked two in the second but added three more strikeouts to escape unscathed and then rung up two more in the third.

The Cardinals stranded three base runners for the game. They had runners on second and third with one out in the fourth, but James Kronenberger got caught in a pickle and then Young fanned Greg Parker for the final out.

Kronenberger opened the seventh with a liner right at second baseman Colin Burke. Young struck out Deion Hoehne for the second out, bringing pinch-hitter Markus Sachtler to the plate. Sachtler hit a grounder to shortstop Dustin Howell, who fired to first and beat Sachtler by a step.

Both teams are back in action today. The Cardinals host Anna and St. Marys opens Western Buckeye League play at home against Ottawa-Glandorf.