The Mustangs (9-7, 5-2) were far from perfect, according to head coach Justin Frost, but the performance of Hamor more than made up for any mistakes. The senior went the complete seven innings in a shutout, giving up just one hit and striking out 16 batters in his first start for a couple of years due to arm soreness in 2020 and his usual role as the team’s starting catcher.

Frost was quick to credit Hamor for his strong showing.

“Wes, for his first start in a couple years he looked really good,” Frost said. “He controlled the game from the get-go. Pounded the strike zone, threw his breaking ball good. With him doing what he did, we did make some mistakes but we could afford to make a couple.”

East Marshall slowly built its lead with one run in the first, second and third innings. It was a somewhat comfortable advantage, but the Mustangs did miss chances to break the game open at the plate. Hamor had a good night batting as well, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. The Mustangs had eight hits on the night. Landon Elliott went 2-for-4 and scored a run, while Dane Thompson went 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Three heads pop out of the East Marshall dugout to see if BCLUW catcher Tucker Wall can reel in this pop-up during Friday’s baseball game in Gilman.

Meanwhile, BCLUW was executing well at the plate but was largely unable to get past Hamor. BCLUW coach Matt Zoske said that the Comets struggled to deal with Hamor’s speed — but he was pleased with how the team approached its at-bats.

“I thought they had good approaches at the plate,” Zoske said. “I think that’s what we need to have going on and that’s why we’ve been scoring runs and winning games lately. They were jumping on pitches, they weren’t guessing. Sometimes they were swinging at a fastball and he dropped a curveball and that’s fine. I said, ‘Do that, it’s a lot better than watching pitches go by.’ I think we did a nice job, we haven’t seen a pitcher like this this year.”

The Comets did benefit from three East Marshall errors, though, which frustrated Frost. He said it was likely Hamor’s strong control on the mound allowed the Mustangs to sit back on their heels and helped lead to the errors.

In the fourth and fifth innings, East Marshall struggled at the plate. Comets starter Angus Callaway threw a decent outing, giving up five hits and one earned run in his four-inning stint. After Callaway was removed in part to keep him fresh for games next week, reliever Grant Parker came in and threw two innings. Parker gave up three hits and two runs (zero earned) while striking out two.

Frost wasn’t pleased with how the Mustangs approached their at-bats, mentioning specifically that they were letting too many strikes go by.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

“We watched a lot of fastballs go by, got behind in the count,” Frost said. “We were not protecting the plate very well with two strikes, so that definitely affected us offensively.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Eli Curtis had a leadoff triple and then scored later to make it 4-0. Curtis scored two runs on the day. They added another to make it 5-0, and the game was won with another shutout inning from Hamor.

Colton Keller had the lone hit for BCLUW.

East Marshall visits Dike-New Hartford Monday, while BCLUW hosts South Hardin.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING