Houghton strikes out 14 in Nottingham’s win over Hamilton
HAMILTON » With Nick Houghton on its mound, the stands full and the weather finally starting to take a turn for the better, the Nottingham High baseball team was confident good things would happen.
Most importantly, Houghton was confident in what he could do even though he was stuck in a nailbiter with crosstown rival Hamilton.
As a result, the senior righthander, who is headed to Monmouth University in the fall, had a record-setting day to help the Northstars hold onto a 3-2 win over the Hornets.
When Houghton struck out David Zamora with his 100th pitch of the game for the final out, it was his 14th strikeout, one shy of tying a single-game school record.
In helping his team improve to 5-0, Houghton became the school’s all-time winningest pitcher and lifted his overall strikeout total to 180, which also set a school record.
“I love this atmosphere,” Houghton said of the sprawling HAMILTON
NOTTINGHAM abr hbi Springtt 2b 3 0 0 0 Zamra 3b-p 4 0 1 0
Goss lf-3b 3 1 0 0 Wiltsey rf 3 0 1 0 Meckel dh 3 1 0 0 Perdomo lf 0 0 0 0 Fitzptrk 1b 2 0 1 0 CLuckie c 3 0 0 0 Tamasi cf 3 0 1 1 Beczo ss 3 0 0 0
Totals
27 2
Hamilton (3-3) Nottingham (5-0)
E — Beczo, Houghton 2, Baker; DP — Hamilton 1; LOB — Hamilton 6, Nottingham 6; 2B — Fuentes, Rojek; SAC — Houghton; SB — Fitzpatrick, Fuentes, Fremgen, McParland; CS — Fremgen.
HAMILTON DeLeon L,1-1 Zamora NOTTINGHAM Houghton W,1-0 WP — Houghton.
4
1
IP HR ER BB SO
5.0 1.0
7.0
abr hbi McPrlnd ss 3 1 2 1 Fuentes dh 3 1 1 1 Hoffman c 0 0 0 0 Hougton p 2 0 0 0 Fremgn 1b 0 0 0 0 Scott cf 3010 Fanning rf 3 0 0 0 Baker 3b 1000 Given ph2b 1 0 0 0 Rojek 2b3b 3 1 2 0 Bennett lf 3 0 0 0 Totals 22 3 6 2
6 0
4
0100010—2 200100x—3
3 0
2
3 0
0
4 0
2
5 3
14
campus, which had events taking place at every field, thus people everywhere. “It’s my favorite part to play, although the game was a little closer than I would have liked.”
Nottingham needed Houghton to take the lead, considering how the young Hamilton squad refused to go away despite the opposing pitcher’s dominance.
“I’m proud of my guys. I’m happy with the way they battled,” first-year Hornets head coach Mike Moceri Jr. said. “(Houghton)’s one of the best around. It’s good for us to see we can hang with a pitcher like that.”
Trailing, 2-0, after one inning because of Christian Fuentes’ RBI double, Hamilton cut the lead in half in the second inning when Steve Meckel scored on Bobby Tamasi’s single. Then, between the fourth and sixth innings, the Hornets advanced three runners to third base with only one of them (Kiefer Goss) scoring with the aid of two Houghton errors.
“His pitch count wasn’t high. He didn’t have a lot of stressful innings. He was throwing free and easy,” Northstars head coach Jim Maher said when asked if he’d considered removing Houghton with Pat Luckie warming in the bullpen.
“I felt good,” said Houghton, who threw a four-hitter with two walks. “I wasn’t worried. I had confidence in myself and in my team.”
That was important since Nottingham was not having a lot of success against Hamilton senior left-hander Dazani DeLeon, who scattered six hits over five innings before giving way to freshman righty Zamora, who struck out the side in the sixth.
DeLeon and Zamora combined to strike out eight Northstars, which is why it was important for the home team to add a run in the fourth when Phil Rojek doubled and Tommy McParland singled him in with two outs.
That extra run helped insure that good things would continue to happen for Houghton and Nottingham as they prepare to head into the meat of their schedule.