Mar 30, 2024
East Palestine’s Tom Beatty catches the ball against East Livepool on Friday. (Photo by Matt Morrison)
UNITY — East Liverpool senior Jake Smith got his first no-hitter as the Potters powered past East Palestine 15-0 in five innings on Friday at the Ace of Diamonds Sports Complex.
“He has pitched great for four years,” East Liverpool coach Brian May said. “He is our number one. He didn’t pitch on Monday, so we threw him today and he throws a gem and gets his first no-hitter ever.”
Smith didn’t realize that he pitched a no-hitter until the end of the game when his teammates congratulated him.
“It’s just a great feeling,” he said. “I didn’t even realize it my teammates were more excited about it than I was. That was the best part about it.”
Smith was close to a perfect game, but an error committed by third baseman Aaron Dieringer allowed Kyle Bourne to reach.
Smith threw 37 strikes in 47 pitches, striking out seven with no walks.
East Liverpool improves to 1-1, while East Palestine drops to 0-2.
The Potters improved at the plate from its first game against Edison.
“The kids hit the ball, which was good to see,” May said. “We only had four hits on Monday, so today we hit the ball a lot better.”
Malachi Reed led the Potters at the plate driving in four runs on two hits, including a single in the first inning that gave the Potters a 5-0 lead. Reed also added four RBIs.
Kasen Ramsey, Trent Davis and Nate Birch all collected two hits for the Potters.
Kyler Bourne was the losing pitcher, allowing 13 runs on 10 hits in 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and four walks before being relived by Tom Beatty. Beatty pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with three strikeouts and three walks. Peyton Rutledge pitched the final inning with one strikeout.
East Palestine has had a tough first couple of games and will have to continue move around its limited young group of players to see what works.
“We are young and inexperienced,” East Palestine coach Aaron Walker said. “Two of these eleven kids have varsity experience from last year, so it is going to be a struggle. I am shuffling positions right now to see what the best fit is, so it is going to be a long year, but they are working hard right now and hopefully in the future it will work out.”
East Palestine started out with 13 players on the roster, but a collision during a preseason practice that involved pitchers Blake Noel and Cale Moraski put the Bulldogs in a tough position.
“We were taking batting practice and it was just a pop fly,” Walker said. “Our two top pitchers went full speed and didn’t call it. It was a bad collision.”
Moraski sustained a broken jaw and has a chance of returning, but Noel will be out for the rest of the season with a broken collarbone.
“It is the next man up,” Walker said. “The other guys that we have we are going to ask them to step up.”
The field that East Palestine calls home recently change ownership and had its name changed from the Next Level to Ace of Diamonds.
“It is owned by Ron Dennison and Pat Buckley,” Walker said. “They have some big changes in talks right now. They want to change the Pony League field to another high school sized field and possibly turf in these fields in the near future.
East Liverpool will play at Wheeling Park on Monday, while East Palestine will be at Wellsville on Monday.
EL: 5-8-2-0-0–15-12-1
EP: 0-0-0-0-0– 0- 0-3
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