La PLUME, Pa.—If pitching cures all ills, then veteran Keystone College head coach Jamie Shevchik shouldn't have to worry about going to see a doctor.
The Giants got another strong pitching performance today, this time from freshman Nathan Hinkley, in a 6-1 win over Centenary University in the first of a two-game Colonial States Athletic Conference series that concludes Thursday afternoon in Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Hinkley went eight innings, allowed only three hits, and did not give up a run to improve to 3-0 on the season. His masterful performance included 67 strikes among the 98 pitches he tossed (68.3 percent).
On the offensive end, junior Mohammed Hussein extended his hitting streak to 13 games by going 2-for-2, including his eighth double of the year, and junior Dakota McFadden drove in two runs during a five-run rally in the third inning that also included a double by senior Ty Christian and an RBI double by senior Bray Curreri.
The Giants added an insurance run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by junior Ronald Medina that scored Hussein, who opened the inning with a single.
The win was the third straight and 12th in the last 13 games for the Giants, now 15-6 overall and 3-0 in the CSAC. The loss drops the Cyclones to 6-11 and 0-3 in the conference.
Centenary avoided the shutout in the ninth inning when senior Tim Maxwell walked, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and eventually scored on an error.
Keystone news & notes
- With two more hits today, Hussein is now batting .425
- Today was Hinkley's longest outing of the season, surpassing his previous best of 6.2 innings against Ohio Wesleyan on March 15; he has thrown at least six innings in three of his six appearances
- Prior to Thursday's game at Centenary, the Giants will take on Moravian College in non-conference action Wednesday afternoon in Bethlehem
- Curreri has hit safely in three straight and five of his last six games to improve his batting average to .278