Jacks slide by Tigers in one-run shutout

Aguirre, Lutz shine in pitching duel

QUINCY — Six innings, one hit, no earned runs, six strikeouts and one walk.

Sounds like the line of a winning pitcher; it was only good enough to saddle Ephrata's Aaron Lutz with a 1-0 loss to counterpart Zach Aguirre and the Quincy Jacks Tuesday.

Aguirre, who struck out nine in a complete game shutout, used a variety of pitches to keep Ephrata's hitters off balance throughout the afternoon.

"He had a good breaking pitch going, and he kept us off balance," said Ephrata coach Dave Johnson of Aguirre's performance. "He totally dominated us."

The Quincy pitcher was in control for most of the game, but twice had to work himself out of two-out jams.

In the top of the first, Reid Forrest's single with two outs got the Tigers going. When Michael Ratigan's fly ball to left was dropped by the Quincy outfielder, the Tigers looked to be in business with runners at second and third.

Unfazed, Aguirre struck out Nathan Nash to end the inning.

In the third inning, Aguirre repeated the feat, this time retiring Nash on a called third strike to again strand Tiger runners at second and third.

Lutz, pitching for the visiting Tigers, was also impressive on the mound. The Ephrata pitcher was one out away from throwing a six-inning no-hitter when Eric Lopez singled to left field for Quincy's only hit of the game.

Lutz and the Tigers also played well defensively, making several nice plays from the infield and turning an inning-ending double play in the fourth inning.

In the top of the seventh, Aguirre went 3-0 on Thomas Bossert before getting the Tiger batter to fly out to short center field. Colby Melburn, who got a great jump on the play, made a routine catch of a ball that would have dropped for a hit in front of most center fielders.

"His game is getting incredible jumps," said Quincy coach Pat McGuire of Melburn. "He's fast as crud."

Melburn's speed helped Quincy not just in the field, but on the bases as well.

Quincy scored their only run in the first inning when Melburn converted his leadoff walk into the game winner.

With Melburn on first after a leadoff walk, Lutz struck out Lopez for the first out of the inning. The Ephrata catcher then threw to first base looking to pick Melburn off, but the throw got past the first baseman and the Quincy runner advanced to second base.

Lutz then recorded his second strikeout of the inning, but Melburn stole third base on the strikeout. From there, Ephrata second baseman Austin Chamberlain made a nice play on Craig Petersen's ground ball, but couldn't complete the throw to first for the final out. Melburn scored from third on the play to put Quincy up 1-0, and Aguirre and Lutz shut down the offenses for the rest of the game.