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West Side's Brandenburg stars in big win

West Side pitcher throws no-hitter, hits 2 homers.

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Updated 5:22 PM Wednesday, July 13, 2011

By Jay Morrison

Staff Writer

HAMILTON TWP. — The good news for the Hamilton West Side All-Stars is their bats finally came to life Tuesday night in the District 9 tournament.

The better news is they really didn’t need them.

Shaun Brandenburg threw a no-hitter and launched a pair of two-run home runs to lead West Side to a 15-0, four-inning victory against Middletown at Testerman Park.

“I was happier with the no-hitter because I’ve hit more than two home runs in a game, but I’ve never thrown a no-hitter,” said Brandenburg, who stuck out 10 and walked two to run his team’s streak of no-hit innings to 10.

West Side managed just six unearned runs in the first round when Korren Thompson no-hit Hamilton/Fairfield, but Hamilton stung 14 solid hits against Middletown.

“We got shelled, there’s just no other way to say it,” Middletown coach Kyle McGlone said. “But there’s a lot of ball left. It’s a learning experience every day.”

Middletown put just two balls in play against Brandenburg, a dribbler up the first-base line and a slow roller to third. Brandenburg retired the first 10 batters he faced but walked two of the next three to lose the perfect game.

“(Brandenburg) was unreal,” Middletown assistant coach Graham Skinner said. “Throwing 70 mph from 46 feet? We haven’t seen anything like that all year.”

West Side managed only two runs on three hits through the first two innings against Middletown starter Dustin Skinner. But Josh Sams’ team scored 13 runs on 10 hits and five Middletown errors in the third.

“That’s the type of inning that these guys are capable of,” Sams said. “When we start hitting, it becomes contagious and everybody gets confident and excited and it just steamrolls.”

Bradenburg hit his first home run in the first inning to give West Side a 2-0 lead, and he hit his second in third to make it 4-0 and start the avalanche. Ryan Kellum also crushed a two-run homer in the frame, Austin Broshear added a two-run double, Korren Thompson had an RBI double and an RBI single and Vince Sanford and Zach Evans added RBI singles as West Side sent 17 batters to plate.

Jake Pennington (2-for-4, double, three runs) also had a big day at the plate for West Side, which will face Lebanon in the winners’ bracket final at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Middletown will play an elimination game in the losers bracket at 6:30 Thursday against the winner of tonight’s game between West Chester/Liberty National and Loveland

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

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