Jul 7, 2010 By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

JEFFERSON – Pitcher Nick Damico fanned 11 batters in a complete game performance as Bud Murphy’s rolled past Watson & Sons, 8-2, in Fayette County Baseball League action Tuesday. Damico had a strikeout in six of the seven innings he pitched with only two free passes. He scattered seven hits, while only allowing two runs in the opening frame.

“Nick Damico is a solid pitcher and has been pitching like this the past 10 years in this league,” Bud Murphy’s skipper Lou Pasquale said. “He was going to be in there as long as he wanted to be in there. He battled the heat and kept his pitch count down.”

Watson & Sons scored two runs in the bottom of the first via three hits.

Adam Dukate had an infield RBI single that scored A.J. Curtis for the first run after David Montibeller doubled earlier in the inning and crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly by Brian Rodavich.

Bud Murphy’s rebounded in the top of the second with a six-spot to take full control of the game, thanks in part to two doubles and four walks allowed by starter Keith Gregorich.

With the bases loaded, Cole Lowman cracked a RBI two-bagger that cleared the bases and gave Bud Murphy’s a lead it would not give up. Lowman tallied two doubles.

Three batters later, Andy Schleihauf collected an RBI double. On that same play, an errant throw by the catcher cost Watson & Sons two additional runs.

“It just kind of happened today that we were patient at the plate and drew a lot of walks,” Pasquale said. “We usually don’t go into a game with a plan of attack; we see the ball and we hit the ball. We took advantage of the walks and had some big hits to give us the win.”

In the fourth, Bud Murphy’s added two insurance runs, courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Ben Lowmaster and an RBI marker by Schleihauf. Schleihauf went 3-for-3 with a walk, two doubles and two RBIs.

“We hit the ball hard a lot today. It was one of those games,” Pasquale said. “We had five doubles, and that type of hitting will help out any offense.”

Gregorich was tagged with the loss, as he went 3 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs on three hits with eight walks and two strikeouts.

Montibeller came on in relief in the fourth and pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball with a strikeout and two free passes. Mike Mox threw in the seventh inning, and held Bud Murphy’s off the board with two strikeouts.

“Every time, we have that one bad inning and get ourselves out of the game,” Watson & Sons manager Ron Falcon said. “We just didn’t do anything right today. When you have that many walks, you are going to lose a lot of those games. We are struggling with our bats and our fielding. You got to do the little things.”