Hampshire’s Dumoulin stymies Burlington Central

Burlington Central just couldn’t solve Michael Dumoulin.

The Hampshire right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before combining with Brandon Wescher on a 3-hitter in a 5-1 nonconference victory over the Rockets in Hampshire Monday.

The Whip-Purs (5-7) manufactured enough runs in support of Dumoulin. Hampshire scored 4 times in the fifth inning without an RBI hit. Tyler Crater drove in 2 runs for Hampshire, while Brandon Bowen had 3 hits in the No. 9 spot.

Dumoulin walked 2 and struck out 7 while improving to 3-1 on the season. The Rockets (5-5) finally got to him with two outs in the sixth when back-to-back singles by Bryan Cynova and Alex Bell produced the Rockets’ only run.

“That’s one pitch I wish I could take back,” said Dumoulin of the throw that produced Cynova’s hit. “It was a fastball right down the middle.”

“He was able to get his first pitch over,” said Hampshire coach John Sarna. “I think that was his best performance with first-pitch strikes, and that’s the secret to Mike’s success. If he can get that first pitch over, he’s tough, because he’s got a lot of movement. He did that today.”

And when Dumoulin did fall behind in the count, the Rockets couldn’t capitalize.

“Our approach wasn’t very good sometimes,” said Central coach Kyle Nelson. “We’d get in good counts for us and swing at his pitch. He didn’t put us in very many of those counts, but we surely didn’t take advantage of them when he did.”

Crater’s RBI double in the first inning accounted for the only run until the Whips broke the game open in the fifth.

Bowen beat out a bunt, Piotr Barnas lined a single to center, and RJ Consigny was safe on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Michael Laramie took a pitch off the back of the helmet to force in one run. Crater lofted a fly to right to plate the second run, Wescher’s groundout accounted for the third and the final run scored on an error.

Hampshire’s defense also came up big, with Consigny diving to snare a line shot by losing pitcher Ryan Schuring in the second.