Aug 8, 2010 By Kevin Harrison for The 3 min read

BULLSKIN TWP. — No one expected Mill Run pitcher Greg Welsh to try to overpower the Bud Murphy’s bats. He didn’t. What he did do was keep the ball from leaving the park and let his defense work. That defense helped Welsh hold Bud’s to one hit Friday night.

As a result Mill Run won 5-0 to gain some breathing room in the best-of-5 Fayette County Baseball League semifinal series.

Welsh’s sterling performance, combined with a little offense from his teammates, enabled Mill Run to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

However, manager Ray Orndorff’s Mill Run crew won’t have long to rest on their laurels, as Game 4 in the series will be played at 3 p.m. today at Mill Run.

Bud’s Todd Dunham also pitched a strong game Friday, striking out 13, however, three errors proved costly, resulting in runs for the winners.

“Greg probably only pitched one game in the county League prior to this and came in here tonight and pitched a remarkable game,” Orndorff said. “I may be repeating myself but were able to get a few timely hits and the ball fell our way again tonight.”

Mill Run broke through with a run in the second inning. Jeremy Miller led off with a single before being forced at second on Andrew Brooks’ ground ball. Brooks advanced to second when a pick-off throw bounced off his body and out of play.

Rob Orndorff singled to drive in Brooks, and David Sumner and Alex Keslar followed with singles to load the bases.

Dunham then gathered himself, striking out Matt White and Nick Lonigro to keep the damage to a minimum.

“We wasted one heck of a pitching performance by Todd tonight,” Bud’s manager Lou Pasquale said. “He had 13 strikeouts, but we didn’t do the job offensively and had a couple of breakdowns on defense.”

Mill Run picked up two runs in the top of the fifth. Keslar drew a walk to start the inning.

White failed to sacrifice him to second, popping up to the catcher before Lonigro followed with a single, putting runners at first and third.

Lonigro got caught in a rundown between first and second, and Keslar was able to steal home on the play. The throw to the plate to get Keslar was wide, allowing Lonigro to move to third. He scored on Kris Firestone’s two-out single, making the score 3-0.

“I know Greg is a quality kid because I saw him pitch this spring in high school. He’s a competitor,” Orndorff said. “I wasn’t sure about him facing this lineup because they have so much power. Greg did a great job of keeping the ball down in the strike zone, mixing his pitches and hitting his spots.”

Mill Run added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

Keslar once again drew a walk to start the inning before Dunham came back to retire the next two batters. Bobby Fulton was able to work the count for a walk, putting two on. Firestone’s fly ball to right was dropped, allowing both runners to score.

“Last time I checked you have to score to win and tonight we had nothing,” Pasquale said.

“I think our mindset was we’d eventually catch up to this kid. We had only one solid hit all night.”

Welsh carried his no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh when Andy Schleihauf led off with a double for Bud’s only hit of the night.

Welsh came back to retire the next three batters on two ground outs sandwiched around a fly ball to right to get the win.