SpringfieldNewsSun.com

HAMILTON — When a baseball team can count on getting clutch hits, it makes for a lot of easy smiles in the dugout. The same thing goes for quality pitching.

Right now, Badin High School can count on both. And yes, its dugout is an extremely pleasant place.

The Rams chalked up their 12th straight victory by turning back McNicholas 7-1 on Tuesday, May 6, at Alumni Field in the completion of a game suspended by rain April 28.

Winning pitcher Brett McKinney recorded 11 strikeouts over six innings as Badin, which had clinched the Greater Catholic League Central Division title a day earlier, ran its record to 18-6 overall and 10-3 in the GCL.

"He's been dominant lately," Badin catcher Tony Cassano said of McKinney. "I love catching him. He's been unhittable."

McKinney allowed only one unearned run on four hits, and that run had come in the first inning eight days earlier. On Tuesday, he faced 12 batters and struck out half of them.

"We've been hitting the ball real well up and down the lineup," said McNicholas coach Willy Corbett, who remembered facing McKinney earlier in the season. "He pitched really well, throwing a little harder, better command, with a couple changeups that made us look foolish."

"I'm finally starting to get in the flow, feeling comfortable out there," McKinney said.

Chad Beatty pitched the seventh inning in relief of McKinney, and the Rockets (16-10, 7-7) fared no better. Beatty retired three in a row to keep his earned run average at 0.00.

"He just gets people out," Badin coach Rick Kunkel said. "He hits his spots and doesn't walk people."

If anything, Badin's offense was even more efficient than its pitching. The Rams collected only six hits, and all but one drove in at least one run.

Eric Gerbus had a two-run single in the first inning April 28. Garrett Seger hit a run-scoring double in the third inning after the game resumed Tuesday, and Nate Jackson's RBI double made it 4-1 in the fourth.

The next batter was Cassano, and he broke the game open with a two-run homer, a rocket shot over the left-field fence. It was his first varsity home run.

"That's one of the few balls he's pulled this year," Kunkel said. "He can hit to the other side, but we've been working on him getting around on pitches."

Badin completed its scoring in the sixth inning when Jackson collected his second hit, a single, and came around on Zach Toerner's single.

"Timely hits," Kunkel said. "That's what we preach. With runners in scoring position, put the ball in play and see what happens."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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