Rotteveel rocks Shores Christian, 10-0

BROOKSVILLE - Going for his second consecutive no-hitter, Hernando Christian Academy pitcher David Rotteveel came one batter short in a masterful one-hit shutout against Ocala-Shores Christian Academy Tuesday afternoon in a five-inning, mercy rule-shortened win for the Lions, 10-0.

The Marion County-based Tigers (3-2) put a man on early, when the third batter of the game, third baseman Brock May, reached on a solid hit between first and second.

The Tigers had runners in scoring position in every inning, but couldn't push anything across the plate.

HCA catcher Daniel Keyes threw out two Tigers attempting to swipe third, and Rotteveel picked off Kyle Hadaka in the fifth inning at second. He had reached on a hit by pitch, then stole second.

Leading off a bit too much, Rotteveel spun and fired to shortstop Blake Hunter who applied the tag for the second out of the inning, basically ending any chance the Tigers had of extending the game.

Hadaka was promptly ejected for language by the officials.

On the prowl

On the offensive side, HCA (3-2 overall) brought its bats and came out in the second with four consecutive hits, two for extra bases, one by Alex Boyer (two RBIs) and Garrett Mikkola, another double by Hunter followed by four more hits, 9-0 Lions.

Mikkola (2-for-2) lead off the bottom of the third with a single and scored when teammate Ian Townsend reached on an error, 10-0.

HCA's Derrick Martin and Keyes joined Mikkola with two hits as all but one starting Lion reached on a hit.

After the game, Rotteveel praised his teammates saying, "I knew my defense was behind me. My goal earlier was to get a no-hitter and I did that last week."

"David pitched a great game," described the Lions' Head Coach Scott Boer. "And we hit the ball well. We will keep working hard and see what happens."

"We're struggling right now," countered SCA's Head Coach Jack Grahling. "We have practice tomorrow, and that's the thing we are going to be working on. I'm not worried about it. We've had a bad week with rainouts last week and we didn't have a good practice yesterday, we had some players that didn't show up, and it shows."

HCA 10, Shores Christian Academy 0 (5 Innings)
1 2 3 4 5 -- R H E
SCA 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0 1 3
HCA 0 9 1 0 x -- 10 11 3
SCA - Bernard and C. Grayling
HCA - Rotteveel and Keyes
W - Rotteveel (3-0), L - Bernard (2-2).
2B - Hunter, Boyer and Mikkola (HCA).
Records - Shores Christian Academy (3-2),Hernando Christian Academy (3-2 overall).