By Dylan Hefflinger

HAMLER- University of Toledo commit Kevin Kline was dominant in an 8-0 victory over Northwest Ohio Athletic League rival Archbold on Thursday.

Kline's only trouble came in the top of the 1st when the first two batters, Jase Grosjean and Michael Walker, reached on infield singles. After a fly out to right field and a strikeout, Kline walked the bases loaded. Up to bat came the opposing pitcher sophomore Tyson Schnitkey, who struck out to leave the bases juiced.

Kline did not allow another hit the rest of the way, striking out 9 while walking 2 while hurling his second shutout of the season. Only 1 more Blue Streak reached base in the final 6 innings against Kline, who was consistently around 88 mph, topping out at 91. The senior right-hander improved to 3-2 on the campaign with a 1.75 ERA.

Junior Gabe Jones did all the scoring the Patriots needed with a deep blast to right field in the 2nd inning. With 2 outs, Nick Gerschutz came up to bat with 2 runners on and the senior roped a double to left-center field scoring 2. The senior shortstop drove in 3 on the day.

An inning later, the Patriots dropped the hammer on the Blue Streaks scoring 5 runs. Sophomore Kollin Spence, who had 2 hits in the game to up his team-high average to .432, started the big inning off with a single followed by an Archbold error. After an intentional walk to Jones, senior catcher Kyle Bergstedt walked to score Spence. Derek Hoops then came up with the bases juiced and the sophomore promptly lined a single to score 2, bringing an end of the day on the mound for Schnitkey.

The Patriots added two more  runs in the 3rd inning, both on misplays in the field by Archbold.

Despite not getting through three innings pitching, Schnitkey had his moments. The sophomore topped out at 84, with the fastball consistently in the 79-82 range. In addition to the fastball, Schnitkey used a nice curve and had confidence to use the change-up in any situation.

Walker finished the game for Archbold, blanking PH the final 3 frames. The junior threw 78-81 mph in his 3 1/3 innings, permitting 3 hits and hitting 2 while fanning 4..

PH (9-7), which evened its record at 2-2 in the NWOAL, returns to action Saturday at  home with a 3-way involving Kalida and Otsego. Archbold (9-5), which lost for the 1st time in 4 league games, hosts Holgate on Friday.