Hampshire snaps Burlington’s streak

It was bound to end sometime.

Burlington Central’s conference winning streak ended after 24 straight wins on a dreary day on Rocket Hill.

Behind the pitching of Luke Wians and the hitting of Tyler Crater, Hampshire downed the Rockets, 5-3, in Big Northern East action.

The win creates a 3-way tie atop the division with Burlington and Richmond-Burton. The Whip-Purs (10-5, 3-1) host Richmond Thursday.

Wians came within one out of a complete game. Crater, who had 3 hits on the day, moved out from behind the plate to record the final out and earn the save.

“Before the inning, coach asked if I could get in there if he needed me,” said Crater, “And it worked out.”

Chase Lundry had 2 hits and drove in a run for the Whip-Purs.

Nick Hahn homered for Burlington, but it was one of just 3 hits against Wians.

“Luke turned in a gritty performance,” said Hampshire coach Steve Ream. “He’s a battler and he wants to be out there.”

Hampshire broke open a 1-1 game in the third. Crater led off with a single to center. After a pair of walks and a wild pitch scored Crater, Jake Kuhn’s infield out scored a run and Lundry’s double to left-center made it 4-1.

Central (10-4, 3-1) got closer on the Hahn solo shot in the sixth. Hampshire got it back in the seventh, with Kuhn’s double leading to a run.

The Rockets made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. They scored once and got the tying run to second base — all without the benefit of a hit — but Crater came in to get the final out.

Sam Klein (4-1) took the loss for Central, his first loss since his sophomore season.

“We’ve got to show up before the sixth inning,” said Central coach Kyle Nelson. “That’s been kind of a theme for us this year. We show up and think we can win games just because we showed up.”