Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
The story of the day at Belotti Field on opening day in the Big 5 was the Eureka pitching.
The Loggers hosted Fortuna in a doubleheader and won both games to get their championship ambitions off to a successful start.
Eureka took game one 11-0 in six innings and followed that with an 8-0 win in game two.
And Eureka pitchers Ty Crawford and Brayden Bermers each threw a complete game and set the tone on the mound, combining to hold the visiting Huskies to just two hits on the day.
Crawford, a senior, threw a no-hitter in the opener, holding the Fortuna bats to just two walks and striking out 12.
Sophomore Bermers was almost as impressive, holding the visitors to just two hits and two walks and striking out 13.
Through the early season, the Eureka pitchers have had problems staying ahead in the count, but they managed to do that on Saturday and did a good job finding their spots and throwing strikes.
But the pitching performance was just half the story for Bermers, who started conference play with one of the best all-around performances of the day.
In addition to his big game on the mound, the standout sophomore also finished 3-for-3 at the plate in game two after going 2-for-3 in the opener.
Junior Matt Pleasant also impressed at the plate for the home team, finishing 2-for-3 in game one and 1-for-2 in game two.
“Those two guys really stepped up offensively for us,” Eureka head coach Tommy Gale said.
The Eureka pitchers got plenty of help from their defense, with the Loggers committing just one error on the day.
“I was happy to see that,” Gale added.
The Eureka head coach was also happy to see his team come out strong after a two-week layoff between games, but the players showed no ill effects from the recent lack of game time.
“We tend to find ways to be competitive in practice, and I think that level of competitiveness is really important in those lulls without games,” Gale said.
“I was happy for those guys who stepped up today, but we still have things to clean up.”
With the wins, the Loggers improved to 10-4 overall, while the Huskies dropped to 1-9.
