Koperniak Tosses No-Hitter Against Lenox
HINSDALE, Mass — When Mike Koperniak takes the mound for the Hoosac Valley baseball team, his offense seems to score a lot of runs and his opponents don't seem to get many hits.The Hurricanes' senior followed up his opening-day win over rival Drury with an even better performance against Lenox on Wednesday night, striking out 13 Millionaires on his way to pitching a no-hitter in a 14-0 win over the Millionaires. Koperniak did walk four batters but made up for that by picking two runners off of first base.
In his two starts this season, Koperniak has allowed just one earned run on three hits with 24 strikeouts in 12 innings of work. Not that he really needs a lot of run support but, just for good measure, the Hoosac offense has outscored its opponents 30-1 with Koperniak on the mound.
Bob Rivard's squad came out of the box swinging on Wednesday, opening an 8-0 lead after the first three frames and forcing Lenox (2-3) into its bullpen early. Senior Zach Lancia went a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish with four RBI and three runs scored. Classmate Zach Brassard also reached base four times on the day, going 3-for-3 with an RBI to raise his team-leading batting average to .750 this year. Senior catcher Connor Tworig collected two hits and three RBI on the day, while shortstop Tanner Bird added a two-run triple.
Dylan Benham took the loss for the Millionaires, allowing seven earned runs and five walks in just under three innings of work. The undefeated Hurricanes (4-0) next play at Taconic at 4 p.m. on Friday.