By Lonnie Turner

Noah Henderson came to within two batters of pitching a perfect no-hit game Thursday evening at the Michael Lecholop Kiwanis Park as the Dillon Meat Center Reds blanked the Dillon Family Dental Giants, 4-0, in Major League action.

The only base runners allowed in his six innings on the mound were Scotty Sweat, who walked in the second inning with two outs and Merdict Williams who walked with one out in the fourth. The left-hander whiffed 14 and threw two out on ground balls hit back up the middle. He drove home what would be the winning run in the bottom of the first when he singled after Barnes Causey walked and went to second on a wild pitch. Collin Hamilton followed with a single that scored him and Hunter Pittman’s double climaxed a three-run inning driving Hamilton home. The Henderson-Hamilton combination scored the final run of the game when Henderson walked and Hamilton hit his second RBI single of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Chase Dudney singled in two trips to the plate for the winners.

Three more tightly played games Friday evening highlighted the first week of the second half. In Minor League action, The Pepsi-Cola Blue Jays picked up where they left off at the end of the first half, winning their first two games of the new season, beating the Physicians Healthcare Pirates 7-5 on Thursday and stopping the True Value Tigers by the same score on Friday.

Kris Hunt (4-1) was the winning pitcher on Thursday and BoBo McKinnon (3-0) won on Friday. A trio of hitters had perfect nights at the plate against the Pirates with Riley Brigman driving in three runs with two singles. Nigel George also drove in a run with two singles and Charlie Nash Collins finished the game with a pair of singles. McKinnon also drove in two runs with a double in a three-run second inning. Coming back after a foot injury side lined him for two weeks, Noah Carter had two hits in two official times at bat for the Pirates and Josh Brown had a RBI double in three trips to the plate. Brandon Bethea also had an RBI single in the first inning when the Pirates took an early 4-0 lead and Quashad Singleton contributed a single in a losing cause.

After the first week of the second half, there is a three-way tie for second place among the McLeod Marlins, the Pirates and the Tigers. The Burger King Braves are in the cellar with an 0-2 record.

In the first Major League game on Friday between the Giants and Hurricanes, the Giants scored three runs to pull away from the Hurricanes, 4-1 after four innings, but back came the ‘Canes scoring a single run in the fifth and another in the sixth on Dray Thompson’s third home run of the season, his third in his last three games. Jared Ivey was cut down at the plate trying to score the tying run in the last inning and winning pitcher Scotty Sweat forced “D” Brown to ground out with runners at second and third to end the threat and clung on for the 4-3 win.

After Chandler Matthews started the fourth with an infield hit, Mason Bailey walked to set the stage for Hunter Lane, who drove them home with his second hit of the game. Corbin Wethington’s single scored Lane with the third run of the inning. Matthews added a triple to go two for three and Yank Hodge picked up his first hit of the season. In addition to Thompson’s homer, Jackson Hayes doubled and singled twice to lead all batters with a 3-for-3 evening. Joseph Desser knocked in his eighth RBI of the season with a single and Ryan Stephens beat out an infield hit. Sweat (2-5) was the winning pitcher striking out 12 through six innings and Jared Darmon lost his third in six decisions.

In another squeaker, the Reds strengthened their hold on first place with a hard-earned 2-1 decision over the James Lockemy Justice Rangers. Chase Dudney’s two-out double in the second inning scored Micah Garcia and Malachi Bember to take a 2-0 lead, but the Rangers came back with a run in the fourth when Jaquez Page singled and scored on another base hit by Cooper Schilsky. In a losing cause, Ranger pitcher John Rourke (0-1) gave up only three hits, the third a single by Collin Hamilton. Hunter Pittman (4-1) took the win with 11 strikeouts.

In the Minors on Tuesday, True Value and Physicians Healthcare were winners with the Tigers out-lasting the Burger King Braves, 11-8 in four innings and the Pirates eking out a 3-1 win over the McLeod Marlins. The Tigers scored six runs in the last inning to lead 11-4 and held off a rally by the Braves in the bottom of the inning that produced four runs. The leading hitters for the winners were Mari Huggins-Bruce and Andrew Bryant with two hits apiece and Gage Hunt led the Braves with two hits. Collecting hits also for the Tigers were Dylan Windham, Zach Davis, and Masen Furr. Cooper Lane and Ethan Chestnut had hits for the Braves.

In the 3-1 win by the Pirates on Tuesday, Quamez Graves and Aaren Clewis walked to start the fourth and Brandon Bethea’s single scored Graves to tie the game at 1-1. With two out, Noah Carter singled sharply to score Clewis and Bethea to take the 3-1 lead. Carter, who took to the mound at the end of three, gave up a lead-off single to Chandler Pittman, went to third on consecutive wild pitches, and scored on Jordan Mew’s ground out, but Carter got Avery Hunt to ground out to end the game and record his third pitching win in four decisions.