Evan Melendez takes a cut in Saturday's game.

By STEVE WALKER
swalker@MorningJournal.com

Playing their second game in the friendly confines of The Pipe Yard, the Ironmen needed a performance like they got on Saturday night.

Cleveland State’s Kris Hall, who graduated from Strongsville High School, dominated on the mound, allowing just four hits and two walks in seven scoreless innings, as the Ironmen blanked the Butler Blue Sox, 4-0 for their first win of the season, Saturday night in front of 156 fans.

"I wouldn’t call it a monkey on the back, because it’s just three games into the season," Ironmen head coach Eric Cormell said of the team’s first win. "We didn’t really have a real spring training and we still have some guys still trickling in … Our pitching came together tonight. Offensively, we did some good things and we played solid defense. When you do that with the talent that we have, we’re going to win some games. The guys figured some things out tonight and we were little looser and not so tight. We had that issue the first two games, guys were a little tight and anxious."

The Ironmen took advantage of two errors by the Blue Sox in the first inning to score their first run. Evan Melendez, who reached on an error by second baseman Jonathan Craycraft, went to third on a Matt McAllester single followed by another error by right fielder Cameron Squires, as he misplayed the single. Melendez then scored on a Stephen Hagen ground out to third baseman Adam Jury to make it 1-0.

Admiral King graduate J.T. Feldkamp recorded his first hit of the season in the second inning and then scored the Ironmen’s second run of the game. After his single, he went to second on a Jeffrey Cola single. Feldkamp then went to third and Cola to second as the left fielder committed an error as he overthrew the ball back into the infield. James DiBiasio then grounded out to the first baseman. After the out, Cola drew a throw to second where he slid back safely, while Feldkamp scampered home safely.

"It felt good just to get it over with and get everyone on the team off my back about it," Feldkamp said of his first hit. "The win feels good. We’re going to get a lot more of them. It’s good to get that first (win) out of the way."

Hall was in command through the first seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and two walks before giving way to Avon graduate Phil Brua (Oberlin College), who threw two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, including the last out of the game.

"It felt pretty good, me and J.T. (Feldkamp) had a pretty good thing going," Hall said. "I threw lots of fastballs and stayed in and worked out away. It was a good day.

"The fans were great. They were real supportive tonight. They got behind us when we needed them. Luckily, we hit the ball pretty good, a lot of credit to my teammates for that."

Anthony Brunetti’s heads-up base running paid dividends in the third as he singled, stole second and third before scoring on an Austin Ingraham RBI single to right field. That made the score 3-0 after three innings.

Ingraham sported his glove in the fourth inning as his diving stop of a lined shot off the bat of designated hitter Ryan Geibel prevented at least a run or two as he flipped the ball to Hall for the putout to prevent Jury, who doubled, and Logan Uxa, who walked, from scoring, ending the inning with no damage.

Evan Melendez led off the seventh inning with a single, then stole second and third base before scoring on an attempted steal by Hagan, who drew a walk. The catcher made a throw to second base to try and catch Hagan stealing, but the shortstop missed the ball, allowing Melendez to score his second run of the game.

"It feels good to get a good win," Melendez said. "We played a good team. We took them to extra innings last time we played them so it felt great to get back at them and get this win.

"Being a leadoff hitter, it’s my job to get on base, set the tone, create some havoc and get the pitcher a little frustrated out there. (Coach) Eric wants us to run, take the bases, be aggressive and cause havoc and chaos for the pitcher."