Roman Gallitz is 'Perfect' to give Post 84 Day One split

Cambridge Post 84's Roman Gallitz made his lone appearance in the 30th annual Don Coss Invitational a good one to conclude Day 1 action on Friday night at Don Coss Stadium.

Gallitz, a late-season addition to the Post 84 roster, will be taking off on Saturday morning for a pre-planned family vacation and will miss the remainder of the tournament.

But the righthander made that one appearance 'Perfect'...and one he can tell stories all about on the beach during vacation after tossing a five-inning no-hitter at Zanesville Post 129 to give Cambridge an 8-0 victory and a split of first day action.

The righthander allowed zero hits and zero runs while striking out two and not issuing a free pass to collect the victory with an official perfect game.

"Roman gave us just what we needed and then a little more tonight," Cambridge manager Ron Antill offered. "He's leaving for a vacation his family had scheduled before he joined the team.

"So I figured, we have him tonight so we might as well use him while we can," Antill added. "And all he does is throw a no-hitter...not too bad. He's really been a nice addition to the team. And he's young still, only 16 and will just be a junior at John Glenn next year."

A lack of offense proved to be a major obstacle all- day for Zanesville, with Post 129 failing to dent the scoreboard with an 0-2 mark on Day 1. Parkersburg handed Zanesville a 13-0 shutout loss in its first game of the tournament earlier on Friday.

"It was a pretty tough day for us today," Zanesville manager Pat Corder explained. "We have struggled offensively all season, and did so again today. Right now, we are trying to play with 9-10 guys and that makes it tough.

"When a guy is struggling to hit the ball, we don't have many options to put some one else in there," Corder added. "It's just tough to play with just 9-10 guys every day. We are a young team, only have a couple older guys. We are trying to make it through this year then regroup heading into next year."

Cambridge gave Gallitz all the run support he would need with a three-run first inning rally. Blade Barclay led off the game with a solid single into center-field to get Post 84 started.

Barclay promptly swiped second base, and on the play advanced all the way to the plate as the throw down was mishandled for the first Post 129 error in the inning. Zanesville finished the tough night with a total of five miscues in the game.

Jake Valentine singled, and Bryce Murdock reached on Zanesville's second miscue of the inning to put a pair or runners in scoring position. Drew Yanico then ripped a clutch two-out base hit to plate Valentine and Murdock for the 3-0 Cambridge lead.

Cambridge added on a pair of runs in the third to extend the lead out to 5-0, followed by a two-run fourth to push the advantage out to 7-0. Garrett Carpenter's RBI single in the fifth closed out the scoring.

Valentine led the eight-hit Cambridge offense with a 3-for-4 night with three singles, with Barclay collecting a pair of base hits.

Jesse Dreskel took the loss for Zanesville, lasting just 2 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and five runs.

In the tournament opener Cambridge dropped a tough 2-1 decision to Parkersburg as Post 84 could not seem to find a hole in the defense.

"We played some good baseball today," Antill continued. "We hit the ball hard in that first game with Parkersburg. We must have hit five or six shots right at them, but give them credit they made the plays."

"Their third baseman had a great game defensively," Antill said. "Jake pitched another really strong game like he always seems to do. We just could not find any holes in their defense. But it was a good game to kick off the tournament."

Valentine took the hard-luck loss for Post 84, surrendering two runs on five hits over three and two-thirds innings, striking out two and walking one.

Andrew Manley collected the win on the mound for Parkersburg, working two and a third innings, allowing zero runs on one hit, striking out two and walking one.

To conclude Day 1 action of the 30th annual Don Coss Invitational, Parkersburg stands at 2-0, Cambridge is 1-1 and Zanesville stands at 0-2.

Action continues on both Saturday and Sunday at Don Coss Stadium, leading up to championship action on Monday to determine this year's winner.

KSutton1@gannett.com

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Twitter: @KevinDJsports

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Baseball: Cambridge Post 84 blanks Zanesville Post 129