JEWELL – Zeke Balderas did all he could to keep the South Hamilton baseball team in line to pull off an upset at the Mike Penning Athletic Complex Monday night.

Unfortunately, the Hawks’ offense didn’t follow suit.

Balderas, just a freshman, turned in a masterpiece on the mound, highlighted by 12 strikeouts, but fifth-ranked (Class 2A) Roland-Story scored enough early on to get by South Hamilton, 3-1.

The Norsemen (23-5, 8-4 HOIC) registered just six hits off the Hawks’ right hander. Balderas didn’t allow a run over the final five innings and retired the final 11 batters of the game, five of them on strikes.

“Zeke pitched very well. He had command of all of his pitches,” South Hamilton head coach Kyle Galetich said. “I always felt like he was a little tight on the mound in his previous starts, but we talked about having fun and playing loose and that’s what he did. The better time he had, the better he pitched.”

Roland-Story struck for four of its hits in the first and second innings when it jumped out to a 3-0 advantage.

South Hamilton’s problem was that Norsemen pitcher Jake Ford was also in control. Only a third-inning single by Jake Hand stood between Ford and a no-hitter; he settled for the one-hit, six-strikeout gem.

“It’s been the same old thing all year where we just haven’t been able to hit the ball well enough,” Galetich said. “We put the ball in play, but couldn’t get the hits when we needed them.”

Ford also drove in two runs. Trey Woodall plated the only run for South Hamilton (4-13, 3-10 HOIC) on a fifth-inning ground ball to the right side of the infield.