Burden no-hitter paces HCHS
Published 11:45 am Wednesday, April 25, 2012
AHOSKIE – Tyler Burden was on top of his game Friday.
While the Hertford County Bears celebrated Lee Britt Night, Burden led the Bears to a 4-0 win over Northeastern High School. On the mound, he pitched a no-hitter while at the plate he was 3-for-3 to lead his team.
“Tyler Burden pitched a great game for us,” HCHS skipper Chris Towell said. “He pitched out of trouble a couple of times. Tucker Warren had a big bases-loaded hit for us. We played well.”
HCHS opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning.
With one out, Burden singled to left and stole second. Marvin Harrell and Ackerman Grace then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases.
Burden and Harrell each raced home on a two-run single to center off the bat of Warren as the Bears got out in front 2-0.
The Bears added another run in the fifth frame.
Jahleel Fleetwood singled to left and Burden had a base-hit to center field. Harrell then delivered an RBI-single to left to plate Fleetwood and up the Hertford County advantage to 3-0.
The final run of the game came in the home half of the sixth stanza.
With two out, Eric Ortiz singled on the infield. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Brock Merritt RBI-single to establish the 4-0 lead for the Bears.
Northeastern threatened to rally in the top of the seventh when they loaded the bases on three walks. With two outs already recorded, a strikeout ended the threat and gave HCHS the Northeastern Coastal Conference victory.
Burden tossed all seven innings, allowing no hits, no runs and striking out 12. He also led the 10-hit offensive attack by recording three of those base-knocks. Harrell had two hits.
“We have three games left and we control our destiny,” Towell said. “We will take it one game at a time.”
Hertford County improved to 12-5 overall and 6-3 in the league. They travel to Pasquotank County High School for a 7 p.m. game Thursday.