Neuqua Valley's Rektorski shuts out Bartlett

Solid pitching was the name of the game during the 3-game Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division baseball series between Bartlett and Neuqua Valley.

Both teams starters went the distance in the first two games which were split, and the rubber game on Thursday at Bartlett was no different with Connor Rektorski on the bump for the Wildcats and Alex Curtis for the Hawks.

Neuqua Valley's Kevin Hutt (2-for-3) hit a solo home run in the second inning and insurance runs in both the third and fourth gave Rektorski enough run support as he tossed a 3-hit shutout with 7 strikeouts and 2 walks in the 3-0 victory for the Wildcats (21-7, 15-5).

"At the high school level, at any level for that matter, if you're throwing three pitches over for strikes you're going to have some success," Wildcats coach Robin Renner said. "Connor had that today, and what I really like is that he's a competitor on the mound."

Rektorski admitted he didn't have all three of his pitches working early on as he said he could only seem to locate his fastball in the first three frames. During those frames, he saw 5 Bartlett hitters reach base including Cameron Mays taking a walk and Myles Zilinsky hitting a single in the third.

Those Hawks (14-14, 11-9) runners were stranded at the corners, and Bartlett had just two more baserunners the rest of the game. Rektorski also had 5 of his strikeouts over those final four innings.

"I kept saying to myself out there, 'Just keep trying. Keep trying. You've got this,' " Rektorski said of locating his other pitches. "After the third inning, I started getting my changeup and curveball over."

The Wildcats got their other runs off Matt Gould's RBI single in the third and Nolan Hicks' sacrifice fly in the fourth, but Curtis kept Neuqua Valley from breaking the game wide open in the fourth.

Alex DiFranco doubled, Hutt singled and Tyler Wypiszenski drew a walk to load the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth, but Curtis limited the damage to just 1 run. Curtis allowed 8 hits and struck out 6 in the complete game outing.

For the Hawks' offense, led by a 2-for-3 effort from Cory Krolikowski, the seven scoreless innings made it 13 straight after Bartlett took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first of a 3-2 loss in Game 2 of the series.

"You've got to score some runs to win ballgames," Hawks coach Chris Pemberton said. "We've been in a bit of a scoring lull since the first inning (Wednesday), and (Neuqua Valley) was able to score just enough to win."

Nick Hilgemann went 2-for-3 and Will Drake doubled for the Wildcats.