LIMA – The 95-degree temperature was stifling.
And almost as dominate as the weather was the Royal Oak pitching.
Four Royal Oak pitchers held the Locos to three hits in a 6-0 Royal Oak victory over the Lima Locos Tuesday at Simmons Field.
The Locos didn’t get their first hit until the sixth inning, when Brennen Norton led off with a single.
“Their pitchers threw strikes and challenged us to hit,” Locos coach Matt Furuto said. “The barrels we found went right to guys. And we didn’t string enough good at-bats to do anything. It was a bad combination of good pitching and bad approaches.’’
Right-hander Joe Herrick (Akron) started for Royal Oak and fired four no-hit innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Herrick threw 63 pitches, 39 for strikes.
Following Herrick to the mound for the Leprechauns was Zach Abbey (Northwood).
Abbey threw two scoreless, one-hit innings. He struck out two and walked one.
Sean Berg came on next for Royal Oak and had two shutout, one-hit innings.
UNOH’s Nick Soller closed the game out for Royal Oak with a scoreless, one-hit ninth inning. He walked two and struck out two.
The Locos are 4-3. Royal Oak is 3-4.
In the top of the second, Royal Oak loaded the bases with no outs.
Alex Cole’s RBI single to center gave Royal Oak a 1-0 lead.
Locos starter Carter Doorn (Purdue) then got a strikeout and a double play to escape anymore damage in the inning.
Royal Oak pushed across four runs in the seventh to take a 5-0 lead off reliever Dillon Masters.
Doorn threw five strong innings for the Locos, mixing in his breaking ball with an 86 mph fastball.
He gave up one run, earned, on three hits. He struck out eight and walked four.
Doorn threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes.
“It felt good,” Doorn said. “We set a pitch limit this game, but I told coach (Furuto) I feel good. I threw upper 60s pitches last outing and coming into the summer I knew I would see longer outings. I felt prepared to go that many pitches.
“I threw a change-up a little bit during the game and I throw two variations of a curveball.
“I had a little hiccup in the second inning, but got around that. I found the groove. Everything was in the zone and everything felt good.’’
Added Furuto, “He (Doorn) was great. We extended him probably a little more than we should have but he was trying to finish an inning. … He’s definitely going to be one of our
best guys. He did a good job of throwing strikes.’’
In the Royal Oak seventh, Eli Hopkins’ RBI single gave Royal Oak a 2-0 lead. Jacob Yarberry’s RBI single made it 3-0 and an error on the Locos left fielder kicked the margin to 4-0.
Reese Trahey had an RBI double and it was 5-0, Royal Oak, in the seventh.
Royal Oak made it 6-0 in the eighth. Connor McClennen singled and scored on an RBI triple off the top of the fence in right-center field by Chase Franken.
Locos notes: The Locos are at home today and Thursday against Royal Oak. Both games are at 7 p.m. at Simmons Field. The Locos are also at home Friday, Saturday and Sunday against Jet Box.
Through six games, the Locos are hitting .266, which ranks second in the league to Cincinnati’s .292. … The Locos’ team ERA is 4.15, which ranks sixth in the league.
Ty Gill (Purdue) leads the Locos in hitting at .389. Gill also has four stolen bases.
The Locos’ Carson Garner (Murray State) has three doubles, which is second in the league.
The Locos’ Diego Gines (Indiana State) ranks second in the league in home runs (2) and RBI (6).
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