Mike Vukovcan Hookstown– After having two games earlier this week postponed because of rain, the Hopewell Pony League team (Team Hoffman) returned to action tonight against South Side and it was a thing of perfection.
In their most complete game of the season, Hopewell blanked South Side 7-0, which was headlined by a combined no-hitter from Luke Vukovcan and Noah Honess.
Vukovcan pitched 4.2 innings and was dominant, recording 11 of his 14 outs via strikeout. The only thing that didn’t allow him to go further was pitch count as Luke threw a career-high 92 pitches.
Honess relieved Vukovcan and was outstanding , keeping South Side off balance with a nasty curveball. Noah went 2.1 innings, allowing 1 walk and striking out 2 batters.
Game Highlights- Â
*Top 1st: South Side got a runner to third base with 1 out but Vukovcan went on to strike out the next two batters.
*Bottom of 1st: With 1 out, Reed Budavich singled to center field and eventually scored on an RBI double to right-center by Vukovcan. Hopewell led 1-0.
*Top of 2nd and 3rd: Vukovcan struck out 5 of the 6 South Side hitters.
*Bottom of 3rd: Vin Smetana led off with a single, which was followed by Budavich reaching on an error. After Vukovcan loaded the bases with a 1-out walk, Honess brought in Smetana with a ground out to second. Hopewell led 2-0. Â Next up, David Johnson recorded an infield single, which brought in Budavich. On the play, Vukovcan scored on some South Side miscommunication between infielders, Hopewell led 4-0.
*Top of 4th, Vukovcan walked two batters but with 1 out, he got help from his defense as 1st baseman, Mason Santamaria fielded a sharp ground ball for the second out. With runners at 2nd and 3rd, the inning ended on a strikeout.
Hopewell’s Noah Honess
*Top of 5th, Honess replaced Vukovcan and inherited 2 runners with 2 outs. After walking his first batter to load the bases, Honess got the next batter to ground out to Smetana at shortstop. Hopewell leads 5-0.
*Bottom of 5th, Honess leads off inning with a single, which was followed by Johnson getting hit by a pitch and a hard single to left by Santamaria to load the bases with 0 outs. Then after 2 outs, Smetana reached on a fly ball error to right field, which scored Honess and Johnson. Hopewell led 7-0.
*Top of 6th, the first out came on a fly ball to Budavich in center. Â Then with 1 on, Honess recorded a strikeout and on the pitch, catcher Tyler Hoffman threw out the runner trying to steal second.
*Top of 7th, Coach Hoffman let Honess finish it out and Noah kept the no-hitter intact. First out came on a grounder to Santamaria at third. Out No. 2 came via a grounder back to Honess at the mound. Then the game ended as Honess recorded a strikeout.
Final: Hopewell 7 South Side 0
Hopewell/Team Hoffman improves to 3-2 and returns to action on Tuesday against Blackhawk.
