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Going Streaking: Hahn Shines as Pittsburgh Wins Tenth Straight, Pulls Six Games Up in Conference

Pittsburgh fans are pinching themselves right now, as their club - the woeful, never-ran Crawfords, the only team in the Federation to never win a Conference title - have won their tenth straight, blanking the West-leading Missions 3-0 in a possible D4 Championship preview.

Matt Hahn was spectacular here, going the distance in a complete game five-hit shutout over San Antonio in which he struck out twelve, a season high.

Hahn carried a no-hitter into the fourth, the only blemish an error in the second by Ricky Lopez that put Mission SS Alex Gonzalez on first. But other than that, Hahn was dealing, with six strikeouts over those first four innings.

The no-hit bid ended with a double by Morgan Teeple to open the fifth, but Hahn stranded him there; another baserunner was left at second in the sixth after a single and sac bunt. Hahn cut through Teeple, Gonzalez, and Ron Golden in the seventh with two Ks.

For the first six frames, Bill Lorentz stuck right with Hahn, allowing no runs on just two hits (including a two-out triple to Manny Rodriguez in the first) while striking out four. The Crawford bats opened up a bit in the seventh though, as Rodriguez singled to start the inning, and with one out RF Ben Floyd homered down the RF line to give Pittsburgh the only lead they’d need.

Not that the rest went smoothly for Hahn and Pittsburgh. In the eighth, two men reached when Gulden walked on four straight and Jesus Rivas singled to put men on first and second, but Hahn got Sakamoto on strikes to end the threat. Pittsburgh added another on back to back doubles by Bryan Knowles and Ricky Lopez, which came on consecutive pitches; Lopez’s - a rope that just touched down on the fair side of the line in right, was greeted with the biggest cheer of the night as it gave the hometown crew a 3-0 lead heading into the ninth.

It would be fair to question Gene Railsback’s decision to leave Hahn in for the ninth, with a ready Carlos Hernandez in the pen; Hernandez, after all, has been stellar this year, allowing just three (three!) earned runs, two of which came in the same game. But Hahn came out for the ninth and got a quick out before surrendering a single to Teeple. Railsback probably should have lifted him then, too, and certainly after Alex Gonzalez singled himself to bring the tying run to the plate. But the manager stuck with his ace, and Hahn delivered: Ron Golden looked at a fastball at the knees on the outside corner for strike three, and pinch hitter James Bordello swung at the first offering and lofted it high and easy to Knowles in center to secure Pittsburgh’s tenth straight victory.