Burlington Central holds off Richmond-Burton

By Drake Skleba

BURLINGTON - The job of a closer is to  slam the door on your opponent?s attempt at a late-inning, come-from-behind victory. In a battle of Big Northern-East Conference contenders, Burlington Central?s 5-foot 10 junior closer Chris Mull did exactly that.

Mull fired two scoreless innings, allowing a lone single, in preserving the Rockets? 5-3 win over Richmond-Burton. In picking up his second save of the year to make a winner of Burlington Central senior RHP Sam Klein (4-0).

?I came into the game trying to do the same as Sam (Klein) had done,? said Mull. ?I threw strikes and Ray Hunnicutt made a couple of nice catches for me. I?ve done a good job closing for us this season.?

On a frigid and windy day, atop ?Rocket Hill? in Burlington, the two-time defending Big Northern-East champs Burlington Central (9-3; 2-0) defeated  another group of Rockets from Richmond-Burton (10-3; 1-1). The win was the 23rd consecutive Big Northern-East win for BC.

Burlington Central struck first in this early-season conference showdown in the bottom of the first. BC Rocket SS Nick Hahn launched his first home run of 2011, with Klein, who had walked  for a quick 2-0 BC lead. Hahn would fall a triple short of hitting for the cycle for the Rockets.

?We came out and played real well.? said Hahn. ? I had a good day at the plate today and had a great at-bat with the home run. Sam Klein battled on the mound for us and Chris Mull was outstanding.?

In the BC second, the Rockets added a pair of runs to double their lead to 4-0. Senior LF Zach Ranney drove home a run on a groundout and junior CF Ray Hunnicutt made it 4-0 with an RBI single.

Leading off the Burlington third, Rocket junior C Tanner Scott hammered his fifth round-tripper of the year to give BC a 5-0 lead.

?We took advantage of the wind and hit a couple out,? said Scott.

Richmond-Burton, from near the Wisconsin border, did not go quietly. In the R-B fourth, senior leadoff man Travis Jewell drove home a run the hard way when he was hit by a Klein fastball with the bases loaded.

In the fifth, with two out, R-B Rocket sophomore RF Matt Malecki homered with Rocket senior C.J Daniels aboard to bring R-B back to within 5-3. Daniels had doubled after the first two outs of the inning. Klein would end the inning without any further damage. Klein allowed three runs and six hits in his quality start for the Rockets.

Burlington Central head coach Kyle Nelson went to his closer Mull in the top of the sixth and the junior slammed the door. Good night and drive safely.

?Chris Mull came up huge for us,? said Nelson. ?Chris came in and threw strikes and has been great for us all year coming out of the pen. Nick Hahn got us going with the home run in the  first inning. Nick?s been struggling a little but has worked hard with extra batting practice and it paid off with a great game today.?