Sox Win in Pitcher's Duel,Move to 6-0
April 22, 2007 Red Sox 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8 2 Ahtletics 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 WP- Hepler (2-0) LP- Andrews (2-1) Waddell HS-----The Charlotte Red Sox (6-0) defeated the Charlotte Athletics (3-2) 1-0 Sunday night in a game that turned out to be a pitchers duel despite the two potent offenses. The story of the night was Sox starter Wes Hepler (2-0) who threw a complete game four-hit shutout while fanning nine against arguably one the top offenses in the league. Hepler gave up two hits in the 1st then settled to scatter two hits the rest of the way. Athletics starter Sean Andrews matched Hepler pitch for pitch also going the distance giving up 8 hits, surrendering the lone run of the game and taking a tough hard fought loss. It was evident after the first few innings that one run would be enough to earn the victory for either team. With both pitchers in a groove, the offenses would have to use timely hitting to get on the board. The Sox would do just that in the 7th with a lead-off single from Andrew Romberger who would later steal second and advance to third on an errant throw from the As catcher. With one out and the infield drawn-in, Sox 1st baseman Joe Maione connected on one right back up the middle scoring Romberger for the lone run of the game. The As threatened to tie the game in the bottom half of the 7th with a leadoff single by Steve Mitrovich who was later sacrificed to 2nd. Hepler struck out the next batter and induced the final batter to groundout to second to end the game. Hepler recorded his second win giving up only the 4 hits, striking out 9, allowing one walk the entire night while also having two key pickoffs in the 1st. Hepler pitched beautifully and kept the As batters off balance all night all the while facing only 25 batters for the game. Also, all four As hits were singles and no base runner advanced past second all night. Offensive leaders for the Sox were Maione (1-3, RBI), Romberger (2-3, RS, SB) and Dowd Maye (2-3). Shawn Gardner, Mike Marconi and Matt Rosner would round out the Sox offense each having a hit apiece. For the As, Whitted, Vidal, Mitrovich and Pienazek each collected a hit. The Sox are back in action Tuesday night at Waddell High School against divisional foe the Charlotte Pirates.
