By DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
BERNE – Owen Wanner took the mound for the first time in 2023 and did just about everything, throwing a no-hitter and knocking in the only run in a 1-0 victory in the first game of a doubleheader with Union City Saturday, handing the Starfires their first victory of the season.
Wanner was spectacular throughout, showing off his velocity and a good curveball to keep Union City out of sorts. He struck out 13 batters in seven innings and the Starfire defense turned two double players to help Wanner in his cause.
“I don’t want to say that you expect a performance like this because it takes away from how special it is to throw a game like this,” admitted head coach Brad Buckingham after the win, “but I also can’t say that I am surprised. Owen’s velocity is without a doubt above average and his curveball was working tonight. It was good to see him competing. He will be a big part of our team this year.”
Wanner had to be ‘that good’ in order to beat the Indians, who also got a standout pitching performance from their ace, Zack Fulk. The slender right hander allowed just three hits and struck out three, keeping the ball down and not allowing the Stars to hit the ball into the outfield.
“It was a good game for us to start off the doubleheader,” noted Buckingham as he also mentioned the team would play five games next week. “We played good defense and pitched well in our first two games, but we lost them both, so it feels good to win one of these early on in the season. Our guys did not get nervous when they put a few guys on and it was a one-run game.”
Wanner hit his spots and was very accurate with his pitches despite the fact that he had never worked in a battery with sophomore catcher Luke Bauman before. He did not issue a walk and did not hit a batter.
In fact, Wanner was so good that he really only allowed one traditional baserunner, Fulk, and that was on a ball that was in and out of the glove of the Starfire second baseman, who expected first baseman Corey Lenington to make the play but the softly hit ball was just out of Lenington’s reach. Fulk was quickly eliminated from the basepaths when Wanner turned a double play on a comebacker to end the top of the first.
The junior then set down the Indians order in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. The only other two Indians to reach base were on strikeouts by Wanner that were not handled by Bauman. Wanner came within a strike of striking out four batters in the top of the sixth inning.
The bats were somewhat silent for the Stars, but a two-out infield single by leadoff hitter Kyle Minger in the bottom of the third was followed by aggressive baserunning by Buckingham, who chose to send Minger with Wanner at the plate. Two pitches later, Wanner put his team ahead with a single to deep right that scored the game’s only run.
Owen also drew a walk in the fifth to load the bases, but Matt Steiner lined out to first to keep the game at 1-0.