Blanco, 2 relievers record Merrill Creek's 1st no-hitter

Ronel Blanco, Jason Adam, and Tayler Scott combined on a no-hitter Friday night as  Merrill Creek blanked Allentown, 6-0 behind two home runs from Alec Burleson.

It's the 1st no-hitter in franchise history for Merrill Creek and 33rd in DMBL history (10th of the combined variety) -- the first since Newark's Tyler Wells tossed one last August.

The Mudskippers jumped out early with a Giancarlo Stanton home run in the 1st inning that came after Otto Lopez singled to open the game. Alec Burleson followed with a solo shot in the 2nd inning to make it 3-0. Burleson later would launch a three-run blast in the 8th on the first pitch from reliever Tyler Rogers to open a 6-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, Blanco was issuing lead-off walks to start the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings but eliminated them via double plays while stranding the free pass in the 4th. Another walk in the 5th was erased when Jake Cronenworth was caught trying to steal 2nd.

Jason Adam followed Blanco with a perfect 2 innings, then Tayler Scott had a quiet 8th and 9th innings, only issuing another walk to Cronenworth, getting pinch-hitter Zack McKinstry to ground out to 2nd base for the final out.

Blanco struck out 5 and walked 4 over 5 innings to improve to 5-4 on the season. He was pulled after 80 pitches, 45 for strikes (.5625). Adam threw zeroes across 2 innings with 2 strikeouts and Scott walked one over the final 2 innings.

Rookie Landon Knack (2-6) took the loss for Allentown. He yielded 6 hits and 3 runs in 5 1/3 innings, walking 2 and striking out 3. Robert Suarez was charged with 2 earned runs, responsible for the men on base when Burleson smacked his 2nd homer. He had 2s across the board, tossing 2 1/2 innings, giving up 2 hits and 2 runs while striking out 2 but walking 1.