Morales, Martin combine for Terriers no-no at King

Hillsborough righty Aiden Morales struck out 10 as he combined with Kyler Martin for a 19 K no-hitter against King.

By Lily Belcher, Staff writer

TAMPA – A combined no-hitter and 19 strikeouts proved the difference in a storied county baseball showdown, as Hillsborough defeated King 5-1 Thursday night.

Starting pitcher senior Aiden Morales pitched a dominating four innings and picked up 10 strikeouts, before being relieved by fellow senior Kyler Martin, who fanned nine.

Morales controlled the ball on the mound, commanding his slider to get to double-digit strikeouts.

Hillsborough (2-0) coach Bryan Burgess said the right-hander has been working on keeping his slider in the zone, which showed in the match up against King (1-1). The Lions batters were jumping out of the batter’s box before being rung up as the ball cut back into the strike zone.

“I’ve just worked really hard over the summer for that,” Morales said about his control.

Morales struck out seven of the first eight before hitting Lion’s pinch hitter Koveyontez Balentine. Martin Galo chipped one to Terriers third baseman Ryan Arroyo, who overthrew a running toss to first, allowing Balentine to score an unearned run for the Lions.

Kyler Martin took the mound in the fifth to relieve Morales, as Burgess said he opted to pull his starter because he is still getting stretched out for the season and wanted to keep him around 70 pitches.

“We’ve just got some arms that are stepping it up,” Burgess said.

Martin was one of those arms who stepped up, holding the Lions to just one walk while striking out nine of his 13 batters faced.

“I love closing,” Martin said. “I think it’s awesome…It’s more hype.”

Burgess says Martin typically starts, but, with Hillsborough’s next game five days away, there was an opportunity to give the senior more time on the bump.

“He’s one of my best friends…he just always goes out there and puts in hard work and gets productive outs,” Morales said of Martin.

A four-run, four-hit third inning put the Terriers on the board first. Anthony Davis walked and Arroyo singled to put two on when Morales stepped up to the plate. The senior drove a line drive into left centerfield for a two-RBI triple to help his own cause.

“I was looking curveball on that pitch,” he said. “He threw it and it hung, so I just put a good swing on it.”

Morales quickly scored on the following single by junior Ozzy Font. Daniel Pena took first on a fielder’s choice out that cut Font down at second; then Pena moved up to second before stealing third and scoring the Terrier’s fourth run of the night on a wild pitch.

Hillsborough tacked on an insurance run in the sixth after pinch runner junior Matthew Tolzman scored on a sacrifice fly to right.

“I basically just want to stay away from strikeouts,” Burgess said of his offense, which had five strikeouts in the win. “As much as we’re getting them on our end pitching-wise, if we don’t strike out, I think we have a chance to win ballgames.”

Hillsborough will host Jefferson and King will travel to Freedom on Tuesday, both games at 7pm.

⚾

Hillsborough 5 King 1

H 000|000|0 – |5|8|3
K 001|000|x – |1|0|2
W – Morales (1-0); L – Fernandez (0-1); S – Martin (1)
HR – Morales (H). Records – H (2-0); K (1-1).

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