Pacific continued its baseball dominance in the Four Rivers Conference with a 9-0 home victory Monday over Hermann.
The Indians (11-0, 4-0) have outscored their opponents 109-11 this season. In four conference games, Pacific has outscored its opponents, 46-3.
Pacific has four shutouts this season and has allowed one run or less in eight of its 11 games.
“We definitely have the two horses (Josh Moore and Andrew David) at the top of our rotation who have done a great job. But we have other guys like Nate Bruns, Zeth Boyer and Hank Vandaveer, who also have pitched well,” said Pacific Head Coach Jeff Reed. “I’m happy with the way our defense has played. Josh Conley made a great diving play at second base that saved a run or two against Hermann. Ryan Jones has been solid at shortstop. Offensively, we’re scoring runs, which has been nice to see.”
Pacific could face stiff tests in its next two league games, Thursday at home against Union and Monday at Sullivan.
“Union always plays us tough. Sullivan will go into the game with us expecting to win,” Reed said. “We have to be ready to play both of those games.”
In the game against Hermann, the Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning, five in the fourth and two in the sixth.
Josh Moore got the start on the mound for Pacific and earned the win, improving to 6-0 on the season and keeping his earned-run average below one.
Moore tossed five shutout innings, registering 10 strikeouts while allowing four hits and one walk.
“Josh threw too many pitches. There were too many 2-2 and 3-2 counts,” Reed said. “He still had 10 strikeouts and only one walk, so he pitched another good game.”
Zeth Boyer pitched two scoreless innings in relief, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out four.
“Zeth gets more and more confident every time he takes the mound,” Reed said.
Of the 21 outs registered by Pacific’s two pitchers in the seven-inning game, 14 were strikeouts.
Jake Schannuth was the starting pitcher for Hermann (4-6, 1-2) and suffered the loss. In 3.1 innings, he allowed seven runs on seven hits.
Ben Held worked 2.2 innings in relief, allowing two runs on two hits.
Pacific collected nine hits and drew six walks in the contest.
Hank Vandaveer and Nathan Bruns (one double) both had two hits. Vandaveer also walked, had two RBIs and scored one run. Bruns had two RBIs and scored a run.
Ryan Jones, Andrew David, Josh Conley, Kyle Dean and Moore each finished with one hit.
David also drew two walks and had one RBI. Conley and Dean both added one RBI and one run. Jones and Moore both scored one run.
Tanner Brown drew two walks. Boyer walked once and had one RBI. Brandon Colter scored two runs. Jake Null had one run.
“We scored runs, but we also missed some opportunities,” Reed said. “We just need to focus a little more and have better approaches at the plate more consistently.”
Grant Ruediger, Brett Eckelkamp, Josh Kolbe and Schannuth each had one hit for the Bearcats. Josh Kolbe and Held both drew a walk.
Pacific defeated Hermann in the junior varsity game 10-0 in five innings. Brett Mann tossed a one-hitter for the Indians.
