The cold and wet weather canceled nearly every high school sporting event in the area Tuesday except for a series of contests between Bellmont and Huntington North in Huntington.
The baseball teams from the two schools met and it was the Vikings who came away with a 6-4 victory in NE8 play thanks to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Eli Laurent got the start for the Braves and despite allowing just three hits, he was hit for six earned runs, thanks to five walks issued and two hit batsmen.
After the visitors failed to put the ball in play in the top of the first inning and went down in order, Huntington North played small ball in the cold weather, bunting over leadoff hitter Marcus Linker after an opening base on balls. Landon Moreland drove in Linker for the game’s opening run with a single to right. Laurent struck the next batter out but Owen McNally doubled in a run and then scored himself as Bellmont threw the ball around the diamond.
At the plate, the Braves had no answer for Wes Huff, who struck out seven of the first nine batters in three perfect innings.
After Huntington North pushed across another run in the third inning, Huff picked up strikeout number eight before Jack Scheumann broke up the no-hitter and perfect game with a bunt single. The next two batters were retired, but Scheumann took three bases on passed balls and wild pitches and got the Braves on the board before Huff struck out Austin Christner to end the inning.
Laurent settled down from there, striking out the side in the bottom of the fourth, but it was the walks that killed him in the fifth, loading the bases with no outs to end his outing.
Keagan Martin came on in relief and Huntington North pushed two more runs across before Martin could record an out.
Laurent and Christner each knocked in a run to draw the Braves within three runs in the sixth, but the rally in the seventh ended with just one run scored and the team headed back down US 224 with another loss, their sixth in eight games this season.