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OXFORD — When Ross' Randy Bulach singled to right in the top of the seventh inning to break up Todd Weiser's no-hitter, Weiser didn't get mad.

Mainly because he didn't even know he was working on a no-hitter.

All Weiser was concerned with was getting the final three outs and moving his Braves into a tie with the Rams for first place in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Scarlet Divison.

Three batters later, that's exactly what he did by getting Travis Gamble to ground out to shortstop Noah Zipko to complete a masterful one-hit shutout for an 8-0 victory at Pfister Field on Monday, April 21.

"I had no idea until just now," Weiser said when a reporter asked him about losing the no-hitter in the seventh. "I was just concentrating on getting the win. We've gotta win out from here on out."

The victory moved THS to 8-6 overall and 5-2 in the FAVC Scarlet, while Ross fell to 11-3, 5-2 FAVC Scarlet.

Weiser struck out five, walked one and hit two batters while raising his record to 3-1 and lowering his ERA to 0.28.

"What can you say about him, other than he was dealin'," Talawanda coach Pete Maus said of his junior left-hander. "He's got the ability to do that every day he goes to the mound. He's been pitching pretty well for us."

The Rams did little to try to break Weiser's rhythm, employing an offensive gameplan that, depending on your perspective, could be described as either impatient or aggressive.

Weiser needed just seven pitches to get out of the fourth inning, eight in the fifth and a remarkable three in the sixth as Nos. 1, 2 and 3 hitters Andrew Parks, David Miller and Chris Gaston all hit the first pitch they saw for an out.

"They were told to take until they got a strike, but they'd get up there and get anxious and see a fastball and hit it," Ross coach Jason Rettinger said. "It's hard to blame them for being aggressive, but that's just bad baseball."

Weiser nearly lost the no-hitter in the fifth, but second baseman John Lynch made a brilliant diving stab on a ball hit up the middle and then bounced to his feet and threw a strike to first to nip Gamble.

Then in the three-pitch sixth, center fielder Tyler Richardson made a diving catch in shallow right center to rob Miller of a hit.

"They played great behind me," Weiser said of his defense.

Talawanda got all the runs it would need in the third when Maus called for suicide squeezes on three consecutive pitches, resulting in two runs.

The Braves tacked on four more in the fourth when they batted around against Ross starter and loser Derek Bischoff (3-1).

The THS offense was led by Richardson (2-for-4, double, RBI, run), Josh Hogg (2-for-3, RBI, run) and Matt Blomquist (2-for-3, two RBIs, run).

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