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The Ramstein Royals baseball team continues to be undefeated going 8-0 in Western Regional Play while the AFNORTH Lions dropped to 4-2.
In Division 1, Ramstein senior Nick Holba and junior Matt McDonald combined to throw a one hit shut out, 5-0 over the Division 3 AFNORTH Lions. Holba threw three innings of no hit ball, and McDonald came in at relief with eight strikeouts and giving up one hit in four innings. The lone hit was by AFNORTH’s catcher Matt Roberts.
McDonald banged a two run homer deep over the right-center fence in the bottom of the second inning off of the Lions’ pitcher Jacob Reynolds to extend the lead 4-0.
The first two runs came in the first inning with back-to-back doubles by senior Garrett Culbertson and sophomore Josh Sloan.
In the nightcap, the Royals tallied 10 runs in six innings as sophomore Andre Porterfield went the distance for the Royals, giving up six hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. Again, McDonald cleared the fence with a two-run shot, but this time to left-center for his second homer of the day.
Starting AFNORTH pitcher E.J. Ruiz held the Royals to just four hits before bowing out to brother Josh Ruiz.
Culbertson, the center fielder, robbed a would be double with a dramatic “play of the day” sliding catch from Matt Robert, which ended a short-lived Lion rally. Josh also went two for three batting for AFNORTH.
Ramstein hosts Kaiserslautern at 9 a.m. Saturday in Vogelweh to end the Western Regional play. Both schools are having their proms on that evening. The Department of Defense Dependents Schools European High School Baseball Championships will be played at Ramstein and Vogelweh Thursday to May 23.
