LINCOLNTON, N.C. — Noah Entrekin started the ballgame, but Tate Johnson and Tristan Harless finished the job for the first no-hitter in Kingsmen Baseball Academy history on Thursday.
The day began with the conclusion of the latter game of last Friday’s doubleheader, and the bats came out swinging. The Kingsmen added to an already fruitful fourth inning to complete a nine-spot, and the Kingsmen wrapped things up in five for a mercy rule run.
Game two began with a run scored by leadoff hitter Logan Daniel. Entrekin, the starting pitcher, took to the mound in the bottom half of the fourth for the beginning of a masterpiece start.
Through three innings, Combine’s only baserunner reached on a walk, and Entrekin had nine strikeouts, striking out every other hitter he faced.
Though a run scored in the fourth unearned due to an error in the field, Noah ended the day with double digit strikeouts.
Tate Johnston and Tristan Harless relieved the left-hander, getting the Kingsmen into the seventh without any other Combine threat, preserving the no-hitter in the process.
Offensively, runs were hard to come by, the game turning into a pitchers duel.
However, the big hit came in the seventh when Brody Weinhardt hammered a ball into the opposite field corner, getting beyond the reach of the Combine right fielder. Caiden McNeil scored on the play, and when the right fielder took too much time to relay the ball into the infield, Weinhardt scored on the play for an inside the park home run.
Harless slammed the door shut in the seventh, retiring the Goats in order to seal the no-no.
With the win, the Kingsmen complete the sweep over Combine, and have one more game in the non-conference schedule before the ABA season starts in East Cobb. The Kingsmen square off with P27’s premier squad Friday at 2:30.
