By Drake Skleba

 

BURLINGTON - Burlington Central senior centerfielder Charley Fletcher went 0-for-2 with a fine sac-bunt in three at bats in Thursday’s Big Northern Conference Red Division showdown between his Rockets and Harvard. Nothing spectacular, but Fletcher’s defense personally took away at least four Hornet runs and helped Burlington Central survive a 7-3 victory over Harvard.

 

Trailing 7-3 in the top of the seventh, Harvard (13-5; 2-2) mounted a rally against Burlington Central ace right-hander Nick Hahn. With runners on first and second with one out, senior shortstop Colin Carpenter (1-for-4) ripped a slicing drive to right-center. Out of nowhere came the seemingly omnipresent Fletcher to make a sensational running catch, keeping two runs off the board and preventing the tying run from coming to the plate. Hahn induced Hornet starting and hard-luck losing pitcher Chase Blazier to fly out to who else, Fletcher, to end the game.

 

“We had to win this game today,” said Fletcher. “We went out there and made the plays. We are a very good defensive team and do not have any flaws in our defense. It helped us win this conference game today.”

 

With the victory, Burlington Central improves to 18-1 and 3-0 in the BNC-East. Junior right-hander Hahn fired a complete-game six-hitter and improved to 6-0 for the season. Hahn allowed three runs and struck out 8 with an over-powering fastball and a nasty slider.

 

“I made a couple of mistakes to Melson but overall I had good command tonight,” said Hahn. “I was happy to drive in the run to get us the quick lead in the first inning. We are off to a great start. We are really playing good baseball. Hopefully, we can keep it up.”

 

Hahn ignited the Rocket offense with a two-out RBI double, which scored sophomore right fielder Tanner Scott, who had singled, and the Rockets led 1-0.

 

In the Rocket second, the Harvard defense imploded. BC scored four unearned runs on only one hit as the Hornets made four errors in the inning and BC led 5-0 after two.

 

In the fourth and in the sixth innings, the two mistakes Hahn made left the premises, off the booming bat of Harvard’s sophomore catcher Cody Melson. Melson hit a two-run bomb in the fourth inning to bring the Hornets to within 5-2. After BC picked up another unearned run in the bottom of the fifth, Melson struck again for a solo shot to make the score 6-3. For the season the talented sophomore Melson,has hit five home runs.

 

“I hit a hanging curve on the first homer,” said Melson. “On the second I got a fastball up and went the other way. We battled but just made too many mistakes today.”

 

Fletcher minimized the damage on Melson’s second blast by making super catches to take away hits from the two batters that preceded the hard-hitting sophomore catcher.

 

“Charlie Fletcher is a tremendous centerfielder. He saved this game for us. We really played great defense all day,” said Burlington Central head coach Kyle Nelson. “Nick battled on the mound and just made the two mistakes to Melson. Austin has had four balls just miss like today’s triple. I knew we would have a good ballclub this spring. We have just played outstanding against quality competition.”

 

Former PBR Porsche Player of the Week Burlington Central catcher Austin Jarvis just missed his ninth homer of the year in the sixth, settling for an RBI triple. The triple was Jarvis’s fifth of the season. Jarvis had the only hit, a single, in the Rockets four-run second.

 

“I swung at some balls early that I should have taken,” said Jarvis. “I really buckled down and hit the ball well in my final at bat. Nick pitched well for us tonight and Charlie made some great plays to help us win this game.”

 

Harvard’s hard-luck losing pitcher right-hander Chase Blazier suffers his first loss of the year and falls to 4-1. Blazier fired a complete game, allowing only two earned runs in six innings. Blazier struck out six.

 

“We cannot make that many mistakes and win,” said Harvard head coach Ryan Frenk. “Chase pitched outstanding for us today. Seven errors. We must clean things up if we are to compete. We battled to the end tonight and the BC centerfielder took away a number of runs from us. When Cody is in the zone he really hits the ball hard as he did tonight.”