The wrath of Hahn

STAUNTON — Jeremy Hahn leads a charmed life.
Despite giving up an unearned run in the second inning, the Waynesboro hurler tossed his first career no-hitter as the Little Giants dismantled Robert E. Lee 12-1 in a mercy-rule shortened Southern Valley District game at Moxie Memorial Stadium Friday.
Hahn needed just 75 pitches over five innings. The closest thing to a hit was a dropped fly ball off the glove of Waynesboro center fielder Terrell Thompson — and that was disputed.
“No, I had it in my glove,” Thompson said of the shot off the bat of Lee left fielder T.J. Johnson in the second inning.
Johnson was close again in the fourth frame, but a diving William Freeman came up with the out on a slicing fly to right.
Besides Hahn’s gem, the Little Giants backed up their ace with good defense, and pounded two Lee pitchers for 10 hits. Eric Hall paced the offense with three hits and five RBI.
“I’m very pleased with the team effort tonight,” Waynesboro coach Jim Critzer said. “Jeremy did a great job — a no-hitter — and we got a good effort offensively from [Stevie] Moreland, [Eric] Hall and [Derek] Hall. Josh [Craig] did a good job, too.”
But always the critic, Critzer still found some things the team needs to work on.
“Our 6-7-8 guys are doing things, but we need more consistency on offense,” he said.
Hahn struck out seven and walked two and retired the Leemen in order in three of the five innings.
“I felt amazing today,” Hahn said. “I spotted my fastball well on the first pitch and my curve was working well. I didn’t shake off a pitch all night.”
Hahn praised his offense for getting him the early lead.
“We got a lot of big hits at big times tonight,” he said. “Eric Hall was huge.”
Hall hit three singles and added a long sacrifice fly in four trips to the plate.
“I just felt good in the box,” Hall said. “I got some good pitches to hit and I just put the ball into play.”
After a scoreless first, Waynesboro got five unearned runs in the second. After the Hall sacrifice fly, Jay Thompson cleared the bases with a two-run triple.
The Little Giants made it 8-1 with a three-run third as Hall’s two-RBI single keyed the rally.
Then, the visitors pushed the lead to double-digits with four more in the fifth. Terrell Thompson knocked in one and Hall’s well-placed single plated two more.
Meanwhile, Hahn was cruising along with the no-no.
“Coach Critzer got me to speed things up a little bit,” Hahn said. “He got the signs in quickly and I was quick-pitching [Lee]. I was pounding the corners early in the count and got the Lee batters in a hole early in the count.”
Waynesboro’s Hall was quick to point out that Waynesboro still had business to take care of.
“We’ve just got to stay focused now,” Hall said. “This win doesn’t mean a thing if we lose the next two.”
The Little Giants (10-3, 5-0 Southern Valley) will look to stay unblemished in district play as they travel to Rockbridge on Monday.