Knighthawks pitchers dominate NE Ohio Knockout tournament before one of their aces gets knocked out by illness
Setting the tone of the weekend for the Knighthawks in their first game of pool play on Saturday, Connor Roach and Bryan Yoder combined to pitch a perfect game against 3H Explosion out of Pittsburgh, while the Holmes County offense exploded for nine runs in a 9-0 win over 3H.
Mitch Massaro would follow that combined mound effort by going the distance in game two, tossing a four-hitter against Brunswick, as the Knighthawks cruised to a 15-1 victory, setting themselves up as a top seed for Elimination play on Sunday.
The pitching remained solid during the Knighthawks’ quarterfinal game against the Pittsburgh Outlaws Sunday morning, and the offense continued to be potent, rifling down the Outlaws 12-1 behind leading hitter Erik Hanna who would put up a .714 average over the weekend and lead the team in RBI.
Later in the day it looked like the Knighthawks pitching magic might be fading, however, when Markus Schlabach walked the second batter he faced from the Manchester A’s, playing out of Canal Fulton.
But the fading magic was nothing more than an illusion as Schlabach would retire every other A’s batter he faced Sunday afternoon, finishing with a seven-inning, complete game no-hitter, as the Knighthawks advanced to the championship game with a 4-0 shutout of Manchester.
But then the metaphorical headaches opposing batters had been feeling all weekend long against Holmes County turned real for Roach – accompanied by a sore throat and fever – causing Horn to lament afterward, “I didn’t have any pitching left for the final, so basically we just had a makeshift pitching staff and we got down 10-1 right out of the gate.”
But even down 10-1 against the SportsZone team from Philadelphia, Holmes County battled its way back, closing the gap to two runs in the middle innings before falling 14-9 to finish in second place, while qualifying for the Regional tournament in Hebron, Ky. over July Fourth weekend.
But even before the excitement of that holiday weekend tournament, the Knighthawks will play perhaps their most exciting tournament June 4-7 in Cooperstown, N.Y., when they travel to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to compete in a tourney involving 104 of the top travelling teams in the country.
To read more about that tournament and the Holmes County Knighthawks, make sure to pick up a copy of the July issue of GAME magazine.